'••.Jf    •   '       •  '    -v~- K'  •- 


HHiUiam  &itjn>r,  Jfa.  I.,  ££. 


: 


>M    AHD    WILL 
EDUCATION 


BY 
HARLES  WILLIAM  SUPER,  Pn.D,  LL.D. 

President    of    the    Ohio     University 
;  Professor  of  Greek,  Ibidem ;    Transla- 
of   Weil's  Order  of   Words;    Author 
of  >y  of  the    German  Languc 

and  Christianity ',  . 


HARRISBURG,  PA. 

-PLS  &  CO.,  Publishers 


William  *uprr.  |!h  t 


WISDOM 

IN  EDUCATION 


BY 

CHARLES  WILLIAM  SUPER,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 

o 

Ex-President  of  the  Ohio  University 
and  Professor  of  Greek,  Ibidem  ;  Transla- 
tor of  Weirs  Order  of  Words;  Author 
of  a  History  of  the  German  Language, 
Between  Heathenism  and  Christianity^  etc. 


HARRISBDRG,  PA. 
R.  L.  MYERS  &  CO.,  Publishers 

1902 


• 


Copyright,  1902 
By  R.  L.  MYERS  &  Co. 


•UCATION 


"If  thou  wilt  mighty  be,  flee  from  the  rage 

Of  cruel  will :  and  see  that  thou  keep  free 
From  the  foul  yoke  of  sensual  bondage : 

For  thongh  thine  empire  stretch  to  Indian  sea, 
And  for  thy  fear  trembleth  farthest  Thule, 
If  thy  desire  hath  over  thee  the  power, 
Subject  then  art  thou  and  no  governour." 

Wyat. 

"For  when  was  public  virtue  to  be  found 
When  private  was  not?    Can  he  love  the  whole 
Who  loves  no  part?    He  be  a  nation's  friend 
Who  is,  in  truth,  the  friend  of  no  man  there  ?" 

Cowper. 

"And  more  than  common  strength  and  skill 

Must  ye  diteplay ; 
If  you  would  give  the  better  will 

Its  lawful  sway." 

Words  worth. 


544179 


TO  MY  COLLEAGUES  BOTH  OF  THE  GENTLES  AND  THE  STEENEB  SEX, 
WHO  DURING  THE  FAST  YEARS  WERE  ASSOCIATED  WITH  ME  IN  THE 
INTERNAL  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  OHIO  UNIVERSITY,  WHO  SHARED 
WITH  ME  THE  PLEASURES  AND  THE  PAINS,  THE  PENALTIES  AND  THE 
PLAUDITS  OP  COLLEGE  LIFE,  AND  BUT  FOR  WHOSE  KINDLY  PARTICIPA- 
TION IN  THE  MANIFOLD  DUTIES  OF  A  LABORIOUS  POSITION  THERE 
WOULD  HAVE  REMAINED  TO  ME  NO  TIME  FOR  SYSTEMATIC  LITERARY 
WORK,  THESE  STUDIES  ARE  GRATEFULLY  DEDICATED  BY  THE 

AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION^    9 

ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION,    25 

ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS,    54 

KNOWLEDGE    ANSI    MORALITY, 74 

REASON  AND  SENTIMENT  AS  FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS,  ...  86 

RESPONSIBILITY,    112 

PATRIOTISM  ANO  PARTISANSHIP, 130 

SPIRITUAL    VERITIES,. 151 

SELF-RENUNCIATION 171 

FICTION  AS  A  FVCTOR  IN  EDUCATION, 190 

HEREDITY   AND  ENVIRONMENT, 213 

NATIONAL  EWCATION,    238 

THE  RELATION  OK  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY 060 


(7) 


INTRODUCTION. 

"We  can  not  get  along  with  the  women;  but"  (after  a 
pause)  "I  suppose  we  can  not  get  along  without  them." 
This  remark  was  made  to  me  many  years  ago  by  a  fellow 
teacher  after  a  somewhat  stormy  altercation  with  one  of 
his  female  patrons  who  had  been  endeavoring  to  instruct 
him  in  the  rights  and  privileges  of  her  children.  It  has 
often  seemed  to  me  since,  when  I  have  recalled  the  quota- 
tion, that  with  a  slight  change  it  is  applicable  to  our  pres- 
ent social  conditions.  Everybody  realizes  that  we  can 
not  get  along  without  education ;  yet  many  intelligent  per- 
sons are  reiterating  that  education  is  not  accomplishing 
what  may  be  justly  expected  of  it.  If  the  putting  in 
practice  of  a  rational  system  of  instruction  were  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  teachers  we  should  doubtless  see  a  rapid 
advance  toward  so  desirable  a  goal.  But  in  democratic 
communities  where  almost  everybody  has  something  to 
say  about  what  is  to  be  done  and  how  it  is  to  be  done, 
especially  in  matters  that  concern  or  are  supposed  to  con- 
cern every  man,  woman  and  child,  progress  in  popular  edu- 
cation can,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  move  forward  no 
faster  than  progress  in  general  enlightenment. 

Notwithstanding  the  title  of  the  book  the  contents  are 
for  the  most  part  of  a  sociological  rather  than  of  an  edu- 
cational character.  They  deal  with  man  in  his  collective 

(9) 


10  TF/£DP#  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

capacity  more  than  with  him  as  an  individual.  The  body 
politic  does  not  consist  of  a  sum  total  obtained  by  adding 
together  a  number  of  homogeneous  units  like  a  sum  in 
arithmetic.  It  is  well  known  that  a  howling  mob  is  often 
made  up  of  individually  sane  men.  Man  in  his  collective 
capacity  is  more  easily  moved  by  an  appeal  to  his  good  or 
his  evil  impulses  than  when  alone. 

While  it  is  true  that  we  have  no  guide  for  the  future 
but  the  experience  of  the  past  and  that  men  have  remained 
substantially  unchanged  within  the  historic  period,  the 
same  conditions  are  never  exactly  duplicated  and  conduct 
must  be  constantly  readjusted  to  new  circumstances  as  they 
arise.  If,  therefore,  it  is  wisely  regulated  it  requires  care- 
ful thought.  There  are,  however,  certain  fundamental 
rules  of  action  that  are  as  invariable  in  their  operation  and 
effects  as  any  law  of  nature,  and  the  fundamental  prob- 
lem of  scientific  pedagogy  is  how  to  stimulate  the  self- 
hood or  the  self -activity  of  the  individual  so  that  he  will 
always  shape  his  course  in  conformity  to  these  laws. 

It  is  the  business  of  the  sociologist  and  the  psychologist 
to  investigate,  to  define  and  to  formulate  the  forces,  both 
external  and  internal,  that  make  one  people  or  one  age 
different  from  another;  that  of  the  educationist  to  put 
into  operation  the  agencies  that  will  bring  about  the  re- 
sults he  wishes  to  produce.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  herein 
will  be  found  the  chief  shortcoming  of  the  great  body  of 
teachers.  They  regard  each  subject  that  enters  into  the 
curriculum  as  an  end  in  itself,  whereas  it  ought  to  be  sub- 
sidiary to  the  remoter  object  of  preparing  the  rising  genera- 
tion for  the  performance  of  those  duties  that  devolve  upon 
it  in  the  complex  relations  of  institutional  life. 

Th«  history  of  education  is  in  the  main  the  history  of 
civilization ;  or,  we  may  transpose  our  terms  and  say  that 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

the  history  of  civilization  is  chiefly  the  history  of  education. 
Every  nation  that  has  had  any  claim  to  be  considered  en- 
lightened has  bestowed  a  large  share  of  its  best  thought  on 
the  training  of  the  young;  and  almost  every  philosopher, 
from  Socrates  to  Herbert  Spencer,  has  had  more  or  less  to 
say  on  the  subject.  Every  progressive  people  that  has  ap- 
peared on  the  scene  of  history  has  had  some  sort  of  a  sys- 
tem of  national  education,  however  unsystematic  it  may 
have  been;  and  the  rate  of  its  advancement  may  generally 
be  measured  by  the  degree  of  intelligent  attention  the  prob- 
lem received.  As  long  as  the  instruction  of  the  young  was 
based  on  nature  and  had  due  regard  to  institutional  life 
each  generation  became  wiser  than  its  predecessor.  When 
this  ceased  to  be  the  case  and  mere  dogma  was  substituted, 
progress  ceased.  For  nearly  a  thousand  years  Europe  was 
virtually  at  a  standstill  because  its  best  intellects  were 
more  intent  on  finding  their  own  views  in  the  works  of 
the  ancient  Greeks  and  Eomans  than  in  interrogating  na- 
ture at  first  hand.  The  best  thoughts  which  the  Greek 
philosophers  had  left  on  record  were  either  not  understood 
or  not  heeded. 

After  all,  progress  is  relative;  we  see  in  the  course  of 
events  one  people  at  one  time,  another  at  another  time, 
taking  its  place  at  the  head  of  the  procession  that  marches 
before  the  mind's  eye  of  the  student  of  the  past  from  the 
earliest  times  to  the  present. 

Every  system  of  education  to  be  intrinsically  valuable 
must  have  regard  to  the  past  and  look  to  the  future ;  it  must 
take  into  account  man  both  as  an  individual  and  man  as 
a  member  of  the  community.  In  so  far  as  the  historic 
systems  have  failed  it  has  been  because  they  neglected  to 
take  into  due  account  in  practice  one  or  both  of  these  fac- 
tors. Too  much  stress  has  alwavs  been  laid  on  the  na- 


12  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

tional  or  local  element  and  not  enough  on  the  cosmopolitan. 
Each  nation,  it  is  true,  must,  in  virtue  of  its  situation  and 
to  some  extent  by  reason  of  its  history  and  traditions,  move 
toward  the  goal  to  be  reached  by  a  somewhat  different 
route,  but  the  goal  is  the  same  for  all.  Truth  is  unvarying 
in  all  ages  and  countries,  and  will  continue  so  to  the  end 
of  time.  It  is  a  sad  fact  that  the  governments  of  the 
world  have  so  often  repeated  the  same  blunders,  instead 
of  profiting  by  the  experience  of  others.  Some,  even  of 
the  States  of  our  Union  have  at  times  tried  to  accomplish 
by  legislation  what  the  attempts  of  others  in  the  same 
direction  ought  to  have  shown  them  was  impossible  or  at 
least  unwise. 

It  can  not  be  too  often  or  too  vigorously  called  to  the 
attention  of  our  public  that  the  school  is  not  the  only 
agency  by  which  the  youth  are  trained  and  their  charac- 
ters moulded.  The  bench,  the  bar,  the  press,  the  pulpit, 
the  medical  profession,  the  family  and  public  opinion  are 
all  potent  educators.  Is  the  preponderance  of  their  influ- 
ence educating  upward  or  downward? — this  is  the  im- 
portant question.  If  the  latter,  be  it  ever  so  little,  the  re- 
sults will  in  time  be  serious.  Are  we  not  in  danger  of 
becoming  so  much  occupied  with  the  welfare  of  the  Cubans, 
the  Filipinos  and  with  other  more  or  less  far-off  projects 
that  we  overlook  the  threatened  lowering  of  the  ideals  that 
should  serve  as  beacon  lights  to  those  in  power  and  au- 
thority? It  is  well  to  be  generous;  it  is  better  to  be  judi- 
cious. If  the  good  Samaritan  had  discovered  that  the  man 
whom  he  was  succoring  was  not  without  means  and  had 
subsequently  succeeded  in  collecting  a  pretty  large  bill  for 
services,  he  would  probably  be  none  the  less  regarded  as  a 
philanthropist,  but  his  care  of  the  wounded  stranger  would 
not  have  been  transmitted  to  posterity  as  the  deed  of  a 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

man  who  was  actuated  by  purely  altruistic  motives.  If 
the  ideal  of  conduct  as  taught  in  our  schools  comes  to  be 
regarded  as  incompatible  with  what  are  subsequently  con- 
sidered as  the  essentials  of  success  in  civic  life  their  influ- 
ence will  soon  be  overborne  or  made  nugatory.  Not  only 
in  our  own  country  but  in  France  and  Germany  are  heard 
loud  complaints  that  the  educational  system  breaks  down 
in  a  great  measure  when  considered  as  an  agency  for  build- 
ing strong  and  upright  men.  It  is  not  charged  that  the 
teachers  are  at  fault  but  that  society  is  corrupting. 

Our  courts  can  do  more  than  any  other  agency  to  foster 
the  love  of  justice  and  to  engender  popular  confidence  in 
the  triumph  of  right.  But  if  our  lawyers  are  more  willing 
to  put  forth  their  best  efforts  to  compass  the  acquittal 
of  rich  criminals  than  to  secure  redress  for  the  wronged, 
whether  they  can  pay  liberally  for  the  service  or  not;  if 
they  attach  more  importance  to  purchased  fidelity  to  an 
individual  or  a  corporation  than  to  their  obligation  to  the 
community  as  a  whole,  we  have  just  cause  for  alarm.  Un- 
less public  opinion  is  greatly  at  fault,  the  legal  profession 
is  chiefly  responsible  for  the  spirit  of  lawlessness  that  has 
so  sadly  debauched  our  civic  life.  If  law-breakers  are  per- 
mitted to  feel  that  they  can  generally  trust  to  money  or  a 
perverted  local  sentiment  to  secure  immunity  from  pun- 
ishment, it  is  of  little  use  to  teach  the  young  so  to  regu- 
late their  conduct  that  it  will  always  square  with  the  right. 
If  the  rich  and  influential  are  permitted  to  evade  the  laws, 
the  poor  will  in  the  cad  come  to  believe  that  they  are  their 
oppressors  rather  than  their  protectors,  and  that  their 
only  hope  lies  in  their  subversion  by  violence,  if  need  be. 
Such  a  course  will,  at  least,  not  make  their  condition  worse. 
We  already  hear  it  said  that  the  morality  of  the  schools  is 
irreconcilable  with  the  imperative  demands  of  practical 


14  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

life.  If  this  belief  becomes  wide-spread  and  deep-rooted 
it  will  ruin  our  schools.  It  will  be  a  sheer  waste  of  time 
and  effort  to  teach  and  to  learn  what  is  of  no  use;  yea, 
worse  than  useless. 

What  can  we  say  of  our  press  as  an  educator  ?  That  much 
of  our  periodical  literature  is  ethically  indifferent  no  one 
will  deny.  It  is  intended  solely  to  amuse  or  to  help  its 
readers  to  pass  away  time  for  which  they  find  no  better 
and  no  worse  use.  Perhaps  no  fault  ought  to  be  found 
with  this.  That  a  good  deal  of  it  is  elevating  no  one  can 
gainsay.  On  the  other  hand,  much  that  appears  in  the 
daily  and  weekly  press  is  positively  debasing.  Those  who 
are  responsible  would  probably  protest  against  the  im- 
peachment. Their  plea  is  that  they  do  not  make  men 
worse;  that  they  only  send  to  market  wares  that  will  sell, 
and  if  a  certain  portion  of  the  public  taste  is  corrupt  it  is 
no  fault  of  theirs :  they  are  merely  doing  business.  There 
is  probably  not  a  large  city  in  the  United  States  but  has 
one  or  more  dailies  or  weeklies  which  always  give  a  good 
deal  of  space  to  lynchings,  rapes,  murders,  divorces, 
breaches  of  promise,  etc.,  written  up  with  horrible  or  sala- 
cious details  and  intended  to  graiify  a  morbid  or  a  prurient 
appetite.  These  periodicals,  which  may  be  had  for  one, 
two,  three  and  five  cents  an  issue,  are  regularly  or  irregu- 
larly bought  by  persons  who  read  little  else.  The  purchas- 
ers will  spend  dollar  after  dollar  in  driblets  who  could  not 
be  induced  to  spend  one-tenth  of  this  sum  for  something 
that  is  elevating.  The  argument  that  such  papers  are 
printed  for  money  is  utterly  fallacious  before  the  forum  of 
morals ;  for,  by  parity  of  reasoning,  people  ought  to  be  fur- 
nished with  whatever  they  are  willing  and  able  to  pay  for. 
A  brutal  murder  or  a  spicy  divorce  case,  the  parties  con- 
cerned in  which  had  never  before  been  heard  of  by  any- 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

body  but  their  nearest  neighbors,  fills  column  after  column 
day  after  day ;  an  educational  association  or  some  other  as- 
sembly with  like  aims,  at  which  men  and  women  of  wide 
reputation  discuss  questions  of  the  deepest  significance,  is 
put  off  with  a  few  inches  of  space. 

How  little  can  the  professional  teacher  do  toward  reduc- 
ing the  pernicious  influence  of  such  stuff  to  a  minimum! 
It  is  true  only  to  a  limited  extent  that  what  we  put  into 
our  schools  we  shall  afterward  find  in  our  institutional 
life.  I  once  heard  an  old  gentleman  called  upon  to  open 
a  Sunday  school  with  prayer.  He  refused  with  the  remark 
that  he  paid  his  preacher  to  do  his  praying  for  him.  With 
equal  consistency,  but  with  much  less  reason — for  a  man 
may  lead  an  upright  life  who  never  prays  in  public — many 
parents  expect  teachers  to  lead  their  children  to  practice 
what  they  themselves  do  not  practice.  I  knew  a  man  who 
generally  became  profane  when  under  excitement,  but  who 
never  failed  to  punish  his  boys  for  profanity  when  their 
transgression  came  to  his  knowledge.  This  same  man 
never  lost  an  opportunity  to  preach  the  theoretical  import- 
ance of  fair  and  square  dealing  in  all  business  transactions ; 
but  he  could  not  suppress  the  temptation  to  chuckle  before 
his  family  over  his  shrewdness  when  he  had  got  the  advan- 
tage in  a  bargain.  Is  it  any  wonder  than  one  of  this  man's 
sons,  who  was  more  astute  and  more  unscrupulous  than 
his  brothers,  cheated  his  father  out  of  his  property?  All 
the  family  subsequently  went  to  the  bad,  this  son  among 
the  rest.  The  case  would  not  be  worth  citing  were  it  not 
more  or  less  typical.  What  did  all  the  moral  influence  of 
the  school  accomplish  in  the  face  of  home  teachings  ?  Ab- 
solutely nothing.  If  every  man  and  every  woman  could  bo 
brought  to  see  that  they  are  factors  in  the  moral  life  of 
the  community,  society  would  be  regenerated  in  a  few 


16  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

decades.  Unless  an  increasingly  large  number  can  be  made 
to  realize  that  upon  them  depends  the  well-being  of  the, 
next  generation,  that  generation  will  be  the  worse  for  their 
short-sightedness.  In  theory  not  many  persons  in  any  com- 
munity are  inherently  dishonest  or  untruthful,  but  many 
maintain  that  the  current  ethical  ideal  is  too  high  for  this 
practical  and  matter-of-fact  world.  They  regulate  their 
dealings  according  to  a  new  commandment  which  they, 
have,  perhaps,  never  formulated  into  a  sentence,  but  which 
they  nevertheless  observe  sacredly,  or  at  least  as  sacredly  as 
they  observe  anything,  "Thou  shalt  not  get  found  out." 

It  is  a  healthful  sign  that  nearly  all  our  periodicals  of 
the  better  class  are  now  giving  attention  to  matters  that 
not  many  years  ago  used  to  be  regarded  as  of  interest  and 
importance  to  teachers  only.  ;We  have  herein  the  evidence 
of  a  wide-spread  conviction  that  education  means  more 
than  mere  "schooling,"  and  that  the  largest  possible  public 
must  be  enlisted  in  the  work  of  fostering  and  creating 
a  wholesome  public  opinion. 

I  am  neither  a  pessimist  nor  an  alarmist ;  but  I  am  un- 
able, or  rather  I  have  no  desire,  to  close  my  eyes  to  the 
tendencies  I  see  about  me.  It  is  much  pleasanter  to  com- 
mend than  to  criticize,  but  it  is  far  less  wholesome.  To 
belittle  a  danger  neither  removes  it  nor  makes  it  less.  It 
is  well  to  recall  often  the  weighty  words  of  Lincoln's  sec- 
ond inaugural:  "I  see  in  the  near  future  a  crisis  arising 
which  unnerves  me  and  causes  me  to  tremble  for  the  safety 
of  my  country.  As  a  result  of  the  war,  corporations  have 
been  enthroned,  and  an  era  of  corruption  in  high  places  will 
follow,  and  the  money  power  of  the  country  will  endeavor 
to  prolong  its  reign  by  working  upon  the  prejudices  of  the 
people  until  all  the  wealth  is  aggregated  in  a  few  hands  and 
the  Republic  will  be  destroyed.  I  feel  at  this  time  more 


INTRODUCTION,  17 

anxious  for  my  country  than  even  in  the  midst  of  the  war/' 
The  destruction  of  the  Republic  as  a  form  of  government 
is  not  necessarily  the  worst  misfortune  that  could  befall 
our  posterity;  for  history  abundantly  proves  that  nominal 
republics  may  be  the  worst  of  tyrannies.  But  history  also 
shows  that  a  society  may  become  so  corrupt  and  effeminate1 
that  there  is  no  cure  for  it  except  virtual  extermination. 
Does  such  a  fate  await  any  of  the  great  nations  now  ex- 
isting upon  the  face  of  the  earth  ? 

Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty,  and  unremitting 
industry  the  indispensable  condition  of  progress.  There 
must  not  only  be  the  wisdom  which  is  founded  on  a  knowl- 
edge of  what  has  been,  but  the  will  to  transform  it  into 
action.  While  it  is  well  to  know  what  is,  it  is  still  better  to 
know  what  ought  to  be  and  to  strive  for  its  realization. 
From  the  watch-tower  of  the  present  we  may,  if  we  will, 
behold  by  means  of  the  powers  which  science  puts  into  our 
hands  the  causes  that  led  to  the  destruction  of  so  much  in 
the  past  that  would  seem  to  have  been  well  worthy  of 
preservation.  Will  the  nations  go  on  cycle  after  cycle  try- 
ing to  do  that  which  the  eternal  decrees  have  over  and  over 
•  shown  to  be  impossible  ?  Eighteousness  and  righteousness 
only  exalteth  a  nation.  It  may  become  conspicuous  by 
other  means  and  for  a  time  occupy  a  large  place,  but  there 
will  be  no  permanence  in  its  prestige.  If  our  age  is  on 
the  whole  better  than  any  that  has  preceded  it  the  condi- 
tions are  due  to  the  genuinely  patriotic  men  and  women 
who  have  not  been  wholly  absorbed  in  the  selfish  quest  for 
power  and  pelf,  but  who  have  devoted  a  part  of  their  ener- 
gies to  the  public  good.  The  hope  of  our  country  lies  in 
the  persistent  activity  of  its  moral  forces.  It  will  avail  us 
nothing  to  solace  ourselves  with  the  reflection  that  because 
we  have  done  fairly  well  hitherto — remarkably  well,  com- 

2 


18  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

paratively — we  shall  continue  to  prosper.  Every  genera- 
tion needs  to  realize  that  it  is  the  custodian  of  its  successor ; 
that  it  is  in  duty  bound  not  only  to  transmit  to  posterity  all 
the  inheritance  it  has  come  into  possession  of,  but  also  to 
increase  it  and  to  add  to  its  value.  The  nation  that  is 
always  "pointing  with  pride"  to  its  past  achievements  is  in 
serious  danger  of  forgetting  its  duty  to  the  present.  Let 
not  this  be  our  folly  and  our  fate.  All  the  world  admits 
that  the  American  people  may  have  a  glorious  future  be- 
fore them.  They  have  their  own  history  that  is  on  the 
whole  an  honorable  one,  and  that  of  the  race,  for  their  guid- 
ance like  the  rest  of  mankind ;  they  have  also  like  them  the 
priceless  intellectual  treasures  so  abundant  everywhere  and 
so  easy  of  attainment  in  our  day.  But  they  have  this  in  ad- 
dition that  they  are  not  shackled  by  the  irrational  tradi- 
tions that  so  generally  warp  the  judgment,  nor  cramped  in 
their  development  by  financial  burdens.  By  their  position 
and  resources  they  are  secure  against  foreign  wars;  by  the 
abundance  and  variety  of  their  natural  products  they  are 
only  dependent  upon  the  outside  world  so  far  as  they  care 
to  be.  If  their  career  closes  like  that  of  so  many  powerful 
nations  that  have  preceded  them  it  will  not  be  because  it 
was  their  destiny  but  their  desert.  It  will  be  because  in- 
ternal corruption  has  weakened  them  and  made  them  a 
prey  to  the  disintegrating  agencies  that  are  sleeplessly  vigi- 
lant for  harm  in  every  body  politic. 

While  we  need  not  take  in  their  bald  literalness  the  lines 
of  George  Berkeley's  poem  beginning, 

"The  muse,  disgusted  at  an  age  and  clime 
Barren  of  every  glorious  theme," 

Yet  we  see  more  than  a  grain  of  truth  in  the  conclusion, 

\ 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

"Westward  the  course  of  empires  takes  its  way ; 

The  first  four  acts  already  past, 
A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day : 
Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last." 

Every  people  has  its  heroes.  They  are  usually  regarded 
with  a  reverence  that  increases  with  their  remoteness  in 
time.  Posterity  endows  them  with  all  those  qualities  and 
excellencies  and  disinterested  motives  which  it  admires  but 
looks  for  in  vain  among  contemporaries.  It  is  the  exclu- 
sive privilege  of  Americans  to  be  permitted  to  look  back 
upon  their  history  and  to  contemplate  in  the  full  blaze  of 
its  clearest  light  one  name  at  least  in  which  the  reality  em- 
bodies the  ideal.  Well  might  Eliza  Cook  pen  lines  like 
these : 

"Land  of  the  West !  though  passing  brief  the  record  of 
thine  age, 

Thou  hast  a  name  that  darkens  all  on  history's  wide  page ! 

Let  all  the  blasts  of  fame  ring  out— thine  shall  be  loud- 
est far; 

Let  others  boast  their  satellites — thou  hast  the  planet  star. 

Thou  hast  a  name  whose  characters  of  light  shall  ne'er 
depart, 

'Tis  stamped  upon  the  dullest  brain  and  warms  the  cold- 
est heart; 

A  war-cry  fit  for  any  land  where  Freedom's  to  be  won; 

Land  of  the  West !  it  stands  alone — it  is  thy  Washington  !" 

Yet  it  would  be  unjust  to  others,  notably  to  Abraham 
Lincoln,  to  say  that  he  had  less  ability  or  was  a  less  disin- 
terested patriot  than  his  illustrious  predecessor. 

It  can  not  be  too  often  or  too  insistently  called  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  young  that  patriotism  does  not  consist  wholly 


20  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

or  even  chiefly  in  the  display  of  bravery  on  the  field  of 
battle, — an  opportunity  that  comes  to  but  few — but  in  per- 
forming day  by  day  those  civic  duties  that  are  the  privilege 
and  ought  to  be  the  pride  of  every  lover  of  his  country  and 
his  race. 

Few  persons  are  interested  in  the  virtues  in  the  abstract : 
all  are  attracted  and  many  inspired  by  them  when  incor- 
porated in  flesh  and  blood  and  exhibited  in  activity.  It  is 
a  great  moral  and  pedagogical  advantage  to  have  such  char- 
acters to  place  before  the  youth  of  our  land  for  their  en- 
couragement and  imitation.  The  privilege  can  not  be  over- 
estimated and  ought  to  be  assiduously  improved.  If  we 
would  maintain  the  prestige  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth  that  has  so  unexpectedly  fallen  to  us  within  the  last 
few  years  we  must  see  to  it  that  our  intellectual  and  moral 
progress  not  only  keeps  pace  with  our  political  power  but 
outstrips  it.  Our  destiny  will  be  determined  by  the  man- 
ner in  which  we  perform  our  duty. 

It  has  seemed  to  me,  as  a  serious  student  of  ethnological 
psychology  and  its  outward  expression  in  the  development 
of  institutions  to  be  not  altogether  superfluous  to  collect 
the  following  papers  into  a  book.  The  private  soldier  can 
justify  the  recital  of  his  uneventful  experiences  with  the 
plea  that  though  unimportant  they  are  not  quite  paralleled 
by  those  of  the  command er-in-chief.  No  two  persons  can  see 
a  thing  from  exactly  the  same  point  of  view;  but  if  their 
views  be  founded  on  truth  there  will  be  a  substantial  agree- 
ment, no  matter  how  large  the  number  of  observers.  No 
claim  is  made  to  originality.  It  has,  however,  occurred  to 
me  and  to  others  who  have  seen  or  heard  these  papers  and 
addresses  that  if  collected  into  a  volume  they  might  here 
and  there  find  a  reader  who  could  get  from  it  a  few  ideas 
that  he  had  not  come  upon  eleswhere.  Some  of  them  have 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

already  appeared  in  print,  but  all  have  been  rewritten  and 
are  substantially  new. 

A  few  illustrations  have  been  repeated  and  attention 
called  more  than  once  to  the  same  historic  period.  It  has 
seemed  to  me  that  they  have  been  appropriately  used  in 
each  case,  nor  is  the  point  of  view  exactly  the  same,  and  I 
saw  no  reason  for  expunging  the  apparent  repetition.  If 
any  person  enters  upon  the  perusal  of  this  volume  with  the 
expectation  of  finding  in  it  profound  thoughts  and  subtle 
reasoning  he  is  doomed  to  disappointment.  Its  contents 
are  not  the  work  of  a  profound  thinker;  nor  are  they  in- 
tended for  those  who  go  "to  the  bottom  of  things."  They 
are  rather  the  studies  of  one  who  believes  that  men  need  to 
be  reminded  far  more  than  they  need  to  be  instructed; 
of  one  who  has  long  held  the  conviction  that  the  highest 
attribute  of  mankind  is  the  capacity  to  learn  and  that  jthe 
noblest  quality  of  the  individual  is  the  willingness  to  learn. 
Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  they  will  at  least  furnish  a 
little  stimulus  to  reflection? 

Neither  are  the  papers  wholly  consistent  with  each  other. 
Consistency  may  be  as  foolish  as  inconsistency.  They  re- 
flect to  some  extent  the  mood  of  mind  in  which  they  were 
prepared  and  the  varying  points  of  view  from  which  the 
same  subject,  or  closely  allied  subjects,  were  studied.  All 
are  intended  to  be  suggestive  rather  than  conclusive. 

Moreover,  to  state  plainly  what  has  already  been  said  by 
implication,  they  have  not  been  prepared  especially  for 
teachers.  I  repeat  that  popular  education  is  by  no  means 
the  exclusive  affair  of  teachers ;  it  is  rather  the  affair  of  the 
whole  body  politic,  of  which  teachers  are  the  most  import- 
ant part,  indeed,  but  other  classes  have  their  responsibilities 
as  well.  Teachers  ought  to  lead,  and  to  lead  so  wisely 
that  the  rest  of  the  community  will  be  glad  to  follow. 


22  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

When  we  are  treating  of  those  agencies  that  lead  to 
the  accumulation  of  wealth  and  the  exploitation  of  the  ma- 
terial resources  of  the  earth  we  are  justified  in  using 
strong  terms.  In  this  respect  our  age  has  far  outstripped 
all  that  have  preceded  it.  On  the  other  hand,  we  can  not 
shut  our  eyes  and  our  minds  to  the  visions  of  poverty  and 
distress  that  meet  us  on  every  hand ;  while  in  the  spiritual 
realm  we  are  on  the  whole  far  poorer  than  were  our  fathers 
and  grandfathers.  To  affirm  that  powerful  disintegrating 
agencies  are  at  work  among  us,  as  they  are  in  every  civil- 
ized state,  is  not  to  deny  the  cogency  of  many  conserving 
forces.  To  assert  that  our  modern  educational  systems 
still  leave  much  to  be  desired  is  not  equivalent  to  denying 
that  they  are  wholly  or  even  largely  failures.  If  they 
were  doing  all  that  may  be  expected  of  them  we  should 
not  see  so  many  of  our  best  minds  engaged  in  studying 
and  suggesting  how  they  may  be  improved.  It  is  a  fatal 
sign  when  ind:viduals  and  peoples  are  so  well  satisfied 
with  themselves  that  they  see  no  need  of  change  and  have 
no  desire  for  it.  Judicious  criticism  is  not  grumbling,  and 
fault-mending  is  not  fault-finding.  Yet  nobody  is  the 
better  for  being  told  that  things  are  amiss  if  it  is  not  also 
suggested  to  him  how  they  may  be  righted,  or  if  the  critic 
is  himself  unwilling  to  take  a  hand  in  the  work  of  im- 
provement. 

"The  smallest  effort  is  not  lost ; 
Each  wavelet  on  the  ocean  toss'd 
Aids  in  the  ebb  tide  or  the  flow; 
Each  raindrop  makes  some  floweret  blow ; 
Each  struggle  lessens  human  woe/' 

Tt  is  a  sociological  quite  as  much  as  it  is  a  spiritual 
truth  that  "none  of  us  liveth  to  himself  and  none  dieth  to 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

himself."  Society  is  not  in  any  of  its  stages  a  work  of  art 
that  has  come  complete  and  finished  from  the  hand  of  the 
master.  Neither  is  it  to  be  compared  to  an  immature 
plant  or  animal  that  needs  but  to  be  placed  in  a  favorable 
environment  in  order  that  it  may  attain  its  full  develop- 
ment. It  is  a  unique  entity.  While  always  imperfect,  it 
may  be  brought  continually  nearer  to  an  ideal  perfection. 
It  is  an  organism  composed  of  an  infinity  of  self-conscious 
but  not  self-constituted  units.  The  rapidity  with  which 
it  approaches  perfection  will  be  determined  by  the  clear- 
ness with  which  its  units  apprehend  the  goal  before  them 
and  the  effort  with  which  they  strive  to  attain  it.  In  other 
words,  the  progress  of  society  will  always  be  regulated  by 
the  wisdom  with  which  the  end  to  be  attained  is  appre- 
hended by  those  who  constitute  society  and  the  will  that  is 
exerted  toward  its  attainment.  A  strenuous  life  is  good ;  a 
purposeful  life  is  better.  C.  W.  S. 

ATHENS,  OHIO,  September  the  twelfth,  1902. 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION. 

Ever  since  the  revival  of  learning  there  has  been  manifest 
in  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world  a  great  deal  of  interest  in 
the  educational  agencies  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  Not  only 
have  many  scholars  been  led  by  a  scientific  curiosity  to  as- 
certain what  could  be  learned  about  the  internal  affairs  of  so 
remarkable  a  people,  but  the  larger  public  has  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree  participated  in  the  inquiry  or  its  results. 
Besides,  therer  has  also  been  a  systematic  and  persistent 
effort  to  find  out,  so  far  as  this  was  possible,  to  what  extent 
the  intense  intellectual  activity  of  the  fifth  century  B.  C. 
was  due  to  agencies  outside  of  Greece,  and  how  far  it 
was  a  native  product  of  Greek  genius.  Historians  have 
also  sought  to  discover  to  what  degree  the  intellectual  de- 
velopment of  this  era  was  fostered  of  set  purpose  by  the 
loaders  of  public  opinion.  Our  own  times  have  called 
into  existence  a  large  number  of  special  works  on  educa- 
tion in  ancient  Greece,  from  the  bulky  volumes  of  Gras- 
berger  to  the  brief  monographs  whose  name  is  legion.  I 
am  not  aware,  however,  that  Greek  civilization  was  studied 
from  the  exclusively  pedagogical  point  of  view  until  the 
appearance  of  Cramer's  two-volume  work,  entitled  GE- 

SCHICHTE    DER    ERZIEHUNG    UND    DBS    TJNTERRICHTS    IM 

ALTERTHUM,  1832-4;  though  Professor  Jacobs  and  others 
had  written  a  good  deal  intended  to  throw  light  on  certain 
phases  of  the  general  subject. 

(25) 


26  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

For  the  last  four  or  five  centuries  the  Greeks  have  been 
our  schoolmasters,  as  they  were  of  the  Romans  of  the 
older  time,  and  the  inquiry  is  certainly  pertinent :  Who 
were  the  schoolmasters  of  the  Greeks?  The  search  after 
the  mysterious  influence  that  made  them  a  unique  people 
is  like  the  quest  after  many  of  the  still  undiscovered  secrets 
of  nature.  We  can  describe  results  and  set  forth  prox- 
imate causes,  but  there  always  remains  a  residuum  that 
eludes  our  closest  scrutiny.  National  characteristics  are 
something  for  which  no  adequate  explanation  has  yet 
been  found.  Anthropological  and  ethnological  psychology 
is  a  historical,  not  a  mathematical  science;  its  data  cannot 
be  used  for  predicting  the  future.  The  adept  can  ex- 
hibit the  How  of  many  phenomena,  not  the  Why.  A  na- 
tion's history  is,  no  doubt,  in  a  large  measure,  the  result- 
ant of  the  physical  conditions  in  which  it  lives,  but  not 
wholly.  The  same  soil  and  the  same  atmosphere  have  fre- 
quently nourished,  and  still  nourish,  nations  of  widely 
different  mental  characteristics.  So,  too,  national  traits 
often  change — slowly,  it  is  true — where  physical  condi- 
tions vary  but  little,  if  at  all.  Sometimes  the  great  think- 
ers of  a  nation  are  the  acme  and  culmination  of  its  psychic 
forces ;  they  are  only  primi  inter  pares.  This  is  true  of  the 
age  of  Pericles,  of  Augustus,  of  Elizabeth,  of  Louis  XIV. 
Sometimes  they  stand  out  like  intellectual  and  spiritual 
monuments  amid  the  general  abasement  or  indifference 
which  serve  only  to  show  that  the  spirit  of  their  country- 
men is  not  wholly  extinct.  Such  was  the  age  of  Milton  in 
his  almost  solitary  grandeur,  and  in  a  less  degree  of  Goethe 
and  Schiller.  The  coryphaei  of  Italian  literature  form,  for 
the  most  part,  a  small  and  hapless  procession  as  they  pass 
before  our  mind's  eye ;  and  some  of  the  brightest  intellects 
of  ancient  Greece  seemed  at  times  to  be  oppressed  with  the 


ASPECTS  OF  AXC1KNT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          27 

feeling  of  their  loneliness.  Whose  was  the  fault  I  do  not 
say:  I  only  speak  of  the  fact. 

The  progress  of  a  people  or  a  nation  may  be  measured 
by  its  system  of  instruction;  and  as  the  people  of  the 
nineteenth  century  are  taking  an  impreeedented  interest  in 
all  that  relates  to  popular  education,  there  has  been  a  grow- 
ing desire  to  look  more  carefully  into  Greek  pedagogy  in 
order  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  whether  it  contains  anything 
of  stimulus  or  warning  for  our  times.  Probably  no  one 
familiar  with  the  facts  would  deny  that  the  audiences  that 
listened  to  the  speeches  of  Pericles,  or  the  coteries  that 
gathered  about  Socrates,  or  took  sides  in  the  bitter  for- 
ensic contests  between  Demosthenes  and  Aeschines,  were 
the  most  intelligent  ever  assembled  for  a  like  purpose. 

Nevertheless,  the  society  they  represented  had  in  it  the 
seeds  of  decay  that  soon  developed  into  vigorous  life  .and 
destroyed  the  organism  in  which  they  had  planted  them- 
selves. In  our  day  those  to  whom  is  entrusted  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  rising  generation  are  held  to  be  largely  re- 
sponsible for  its  morals  and  its  patriotism.  Does  a  like 
responsibility  rest  upon  the  teachers  of  the  ancient  Greeks  ? 
Did  these  enlightened  commonwealths  fall  into  political 
disintegration  because  their  schoolmasters  were  faithless 
to  their  trust,  or  fail  through  shortsightedness  to  point 
out  to  the  rising  generation  the  way  of  safety?  Or  did 
misfortune  come  upon  all  because  no  such  state-constituted 
guardians  existed  whose  duty  and  privilege  it  was  to  hold 
up  persistently  the  true  aim  of  life?  The  answer,  at  least 
in  part,  is  that  no  state  of  Greece  had  a  system  of  educa- 
tion, as  the  term  is  now  understood ;  that  the  teaching  of 
the  sophists  was  well  calculated  to  accentuate  the  inherent 
selfishness  of  the  Greeks,  and  that  the  Greeks  were  cursed 
with  certain  fundamental  vices  which  probably  no  system  of 


28  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

education  could  have  wholly  neutralized.  At  any  rater 
they  are  quite  as  conspicuous  to-day  as  they  were  at  any 
time  in  the  past. 

The  student  of  the  history  of  education,  beginning  with 
the  remotest  times,  can  hardly  avoid  the  conviction  that 
the  men  who  have  made  the  deepest  impression  upon  the 
life  and  thought  of  the  world  are  the  product  of  times 
when  the  state  did  but  little  for  the  enlightenment  of  the 
masses.  There  ma}r  be  little  or  no  connection  between  the 
two  conditions,  but  we  constantly  find  them  existing  side  by 
side.  In  Athens,  the  era  in  which  lived  Socrates  and 
Plato,  Aristotle  and  Demosthenes  is  a  conspicuous  exam- 
ple Few  men  of  antiquity  have  so  profoundly  influenced 
the  thoughts  of  the  world,  beginning  almost  from  the  day 
of  his  death,  as  Cicero,  yet  he,  in  no  sense,  owed  his  edu- 
cation to  the  laws  under  which  he  lived ;  neither  did  Caesar, 
nor  Horace,  nor  Virgil.  Many  of  the  countries  of  mod- 
ern Europe  have  had  their  universities  for  four  or  five 
centuries,  but  in  most  cases  their  conservatism  has  been  so 
pronounced  that  they  afforded  but  little  stimulus  or  scope 
for  independent  investigation.  Some  of  them  have 
not  yet  been  aroused  out  of  their  mediaeval  sleep,  while 
others  were  stirred  from  their  lethargy  by  intellectual 
forces  which  were  created  outside  of  the  sphere  of  their  in- 
fluence and  against  which  bars  and  bolts  were  powerless. 
We  are  almost  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no 
necessary  connection  between  a  nation's  greatness  and  its 
educational  system,  nor  even  between  the  former  and  the 
great  men  who  are  born  upon  its  soil.  If,  therefore,  we 
study  systems  of  instruction  with  the  hope  of  finding  there- 
in that  which  will  show  us  how  a  nation  becomes  great,  we 
shall  almost  invariably  be  disappointed.  They  do  not  make 
great  men.  They  have  chiefly  a  historical,  rarely,  if  ever,  a 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          29 

practical  value.  Much  as  there  may  be  in  the  intellectual 
productions  of  great  men — Socrates,  for  example,  has  fur- 
nished food  for  the  mental  digestion  of  millions  of  think- 
ing people — there  is  little  apparently  in  the  age  in  which 
he  lived  to  show  that  he  was  its  natural  outcome,  though 
there  is  no  doubt  that  if  he  had  lived  amidst  a  different  en- 
vironment his  activity  would  have  been  directed  in  a  differ- 
ent channel.  Men  of  his  type  can  not  be  called  into  exist- 
ence at  will.  There  is  much  truth  in  the  statement  that  a 
nation's  history  is  a  biography  of  its  great  men.  In  the 
last  analysis  thought  rules  the  world  more  than  most  per- 
sons are  willing  to  believe.  The  truth,  when  steadfastly  and 
disinterestedly  proclaimed,  is  certain  of  a  wider  recogni- 
tion than  the  bounds  of  a  nation  or  the  limits  of  an  age. 
Why  is  the  Greek  education  that  produced  the  great  men 
of  the  fifth  and  fourth  centuries  before  Christ  of  more  in- 
terest to  us  than  that  in  which  were  trained  Shakespeare 
and  Milton,  or  Lessing  and  his  contemporaries?  Because 
all  thes'e  fed  more  or  less  on  the  intellectual  product  of  the 
ancient  soil.  In  a  sense,  then,  a  study  of  Greek  pedagogy 
is  an  examination  of  the  sources  from  which  the  later  com- 
ers drew  their  intellectual  inspiration  more  or  less  directly. 
But  they  used  these  materials  only  as  genius  and  talent 
uses  such  materials— as  stimulus. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  present  paper  to  furnish  a 
history  of  Greek  education.  It  is  too  brief  for  that.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  impossible  in  our  day  to  write  more 
than  a  mere  sketch,  for  the  reason  that  the  extant  ma- 
terials are  exceedingly  scanty.  There  is  only  room  here  to 
record  a  few  fairly  well  authenticated  facts  and  to  set  forth 
certain  inferences  that  have  occurred  to  the  writer  during 
the  quarter  of  a  century  that  he  has  studied  the  subject. 
The  scantiness  of  the  material  that  has  come  down  to  us  is 


30  WISDOM  AND  WILL  72V   EDUCATION. 

sufficient  evidence  that  the  Greek  public  did  not  attach  the 
importance  to  national  education  that  is  attached  to  it  by 
the  leading  nations  of  the  day.  If  the  large  cities  of 
Europe  or  America  were  to  be  swept  from  the  face  of  the 
earth  as  completely  as  those  of  ancient  Greece,  there  is 
hardly  one  among  the  ruins  of  which  would  not  be  found 
unmistakable  evidence  that  it  had  been  the  seat  of  great 
educational  institutions.  But  the  ruins  of  Greek  cities  tell 
us  little  of  education.  There  were  no  buildings  correspond- 
ing to  our  colleges  and  universities,  as  no  Greek  state  seri- 
ously concerned  itself  for  the  instruction  of  its  youth  beyond 
the  mere  rudiments  of  knowledge.  It  is  greatly  to  be  re- 
gretted that  we  have  so  little  definite  information  about 
Greek  elementary  education.  Many  writers  have  more  or 
less  to  say  upon  education,  but  they  tell  us  rather  what  it 
ought  to  be  than  what  it  was.  While,  therefore,  it  is  com- 
paratively easy  to  write  a  history  of  Greek  educational  the- 
ories, it  is  impossible  to  say  much  about  Greek  educational 
practice  without  feeling  that  a  great  deal  of  what  We  say  is 
possibly  erroneous.  We  know  almost  nothing  of  Greek 
school-rooms ;  the  preparation  required  of  teachers,  though 
of  their  fitness  the}r  were  probably  themselves  the  sole  judges ; 
of  the  books  and  other  appurtenances  used,  such  as  maps, 
globes,  slates,  etc.  In  short,  on  the  external  appliances  for 
teaching,  that  are  now  considered  well  nigh  indispensable, 
we  have  only  the  most  meager  information.  It  is  prob- 
able that  these  things  played  a  very  subordinate  part  in  the 
work  of  instruction  and  that  the  stress  was  laid  almost 
wholly  upon  purely  mental  labor.  Need  we  be  surprised 
)>ecause  such  great  results  were  produced  by  such  meager 
means  ?  Or  is  it  not  rather  the  great  vice  of  modern  peda- 
gogy that  it  helps  the  pupil  too  much  ? 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          31 

A  leading  trait  of  the  Greeks,  especially  of  the  lonians, 
was  the  desire  to  know.  Paul  tells  us  that  even  in  his 
time  many  of  them  were  constantly  on  the  alert  to  find  out 
some  new  thing.  This  desire  in  its  inception  is  mere  idle 
curiosity,  but  it  is  the  foundation  of  scientific  inquiry. 
From  it  sprang  the  fruitful  growth  of  Greek,  and  indeed 
of  all  philosophy.  It  impressed  the  Apostle,  because  to 
his  Oriental  mind  it  was  something  almost  incomprehensi- 
ble. In  the  Homeric  Poems  but  faint  traces  of  it  are  mani- 
fest, and  it  was  never  very  conspicuous  among  the  Dorians, 
but  reached  its  fullest  development  among  the  Athenians. 
To  what  it  led  is  well  known.  It  is  related  of  many  Greeks 
that  they  visited  the  older  countries  of  the  East  in  order 
to  observe  and  study  their  institutions  and  their  natural 
productions.  Surprise  has  often  been  expressed,  and  it  is 
certainly  a  matter  of  regret,  that  these  quick-witted  trav- 
elers took  so  little  note  of  the  speech  of  the  people  they  vis- 
ited. But  there  is  reason  for  this.  Language  was  regarded 
by  them  as  a  mere  external  manifestation  of  what  was  in 
the  human  mind.  In  itself  it  had  to  the  Greek  no  intrin- 
sic value.  His  own  language  was  manifestly  superior  as 
an  organ  of  expression  to  any  with  which  he  came  in  con- 
tact. If  he  could  discover  the  underlying  thought,  of 
which  speech  was  only  the  medium  of  communication,  he 
was  content.  He  concerned  himself  with  foreign  lan- 
guages only  so  far  as  they  had  a  practical  value,  and  re- 
garded them  of  no  further  importance,  because  they  re- 
vealed no  radical  differences  in  the  human  mind.  The  case 
was  otherwise  when  there  was  a  question  of  foreign  institu- 
tions and  the  history  of  foreign  countries.  Here  was  some- 
thing radically  unlike  anything  he  could  find  at  home. 

The  Greeks  attached  a  high  value  to  training  both 
physical  and  intellectual.  Every  Greek  city  had  its  build- 


32  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

ings  and  grounds  suitably  furnished  for  gymnastic  exer- 
cises, and  to  be  unfamiliar  with  such  exercises  was  regarded 
as  the  mark  of  a  slave  or  a  barbarian.  In  fact,  the  state 
concerned  itself  far  more  with  such  training  than  with 
training  of  the  mind.  But  here,  too,  the  principle  was  be- 
lieved to  be  of  chief  importance.  Greek  writers  have  so 
much  to  say  in  disparagement  of  extensive  information 
when  acquired  at  the  expense  of  thorough  mental  training, 
that  this  thought  must  have  had  a  firm  basis  in  public 
opinion.  Plato  regarded  as  the  important  principles  of 
education,  the  correlation  of  all  knowledge,  the  recognition 
of  the  unity  of  all  sciences,  the  desire  to  pursue  truth  to 
its  discovery,  and  the  determination  not  to  stop  short  of 
this  goal.  From  this  point  of  view  Greek  education  was 
strictly  rational  and  philosophical.  It  did  not  multiply 
issues.  Indeed,  it  could  scarcely  have  done  so,  because 
the  intellectual  product  available  for  pedagogical  purposes 
was  limited  in  amount.  Its  aim  was  not  to  make  profes- 
sional men,  but  intelligent  citizens.  In  this  it  served  its 
purpose  admirably. 

How  simple  the  most  liberal  course  of  study  was  to  the 
time  of  Aristotle,  when  Greece  was  already  in  its  decline! 
There  was  but  little  history  in  the  modern  sense  of  the 
term,  and  hardly  any  natural  or  physical  science.  The 
speculations  of  philosophers,  though  wonderfully  shrewd 
in  many  cases,  were  hardly  more  than  mere  guesses.  They 
thought  deeply,  and  observed  with  some  care,  but  their  ob- 
servation lacked  accuracy  for  want  of  suitable  instruments. 
There  was  no  study  of  geography  and  no  scientific  study 
of  music.  It  was  made  up  chiefly  of  literature,  practical 
politics,  and  some  mathematics.  We  get  a  fairly  accurate 
notion  of  what  it  must  have  been  by  subtracting  what  we 
know  that  it  could  not  have  included. 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          S3 

What  we  see  taking  place  in  the  case  of  individuals  in 
our  own  day  has  taken  place  from  time  immemorial  in  the 
history  of  nations,  and  the  Greeks  were  no  exception.  The 
parent  who,  by  natural  ability,  has  succeeded  in  acquir- 
ing a  larger  amount  of  knowledge  than  his  fellows,  soon 
recognizes  the  superiority  that  his  attainments  give  him, 
and  desires  the  same  advantages  for  his  children.  He 
then  endeavors  by  artificial  helps,  applied  in  the  form  of 
more  or  less  systematic  instruction,  to  transmit  to  them 
the  benefit  of  his  acquired  knowledge  and  experience. 
When  a  considerable  number  of  persons  have  reached  the 
recognition  of  this  advantage  they  strive  to  establish  na- 
tional systems  of  instruction.  The  Greeks,  owing  to  their 
pre-eminent  natural  genius,  fostered  by  advantages  of  soil 
and  climate,  unconsciously  produced  the  Homeric  Poems. 
Later  generations  recognized  their  value  as  a  means  of 
culture,  and  made  them  the  basis  of  a  national  system  of 
instruction.  This  literature  was,  however,  spontaneous 
and  unconscious,  as  indeed  is  all  the  earliest  literature  of 
every  nation.  But  the  product  of  the  Greek  muse  was  far 
superior  to  everything  else  of  the  kind.  That  it  came  into 
existence  by  a  sort  of  inspiration  was  a  fact  well  recognized 
by  the  Greeks  themselves  when  they  began  to  reflect  upon  it 
and  study  it.  They  saw  that  it  could  not  be  called  forth 
at  will,  though  many  of  them  tried  to  do  this  by  a  scrupu- 
lous observance  of  a  set  of  rules  instinctively  followel  by 
the  creators  of  Greek  literature. 

Sometimes  a  nation  recognizes  the  superior  value  of  a 
foreign  literary  product  to  anything  of  its  own  creation 
and  makes  an  imported  article  the  basis  of  its  national  in- 
struction. The  Romans  followed  this  course  and  their 
earliest  text-books  were  translations- of  the  Homeric  Poems. 
Somewhat  similarly  the  school-books  used  in  this  country 

3 


34  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

until  a  comparatively  recent  period  were  more  or  less  close 
imitations  of  those  in  use  in  the  mother  country.  In  time, 
however,  the  Romans  gradually  laid  aside  their  translations 
from  the  Greek  and  brought  into  general  use  the  writings 
of  native  authors.  And  it  may  be  added,  we  are  having  a 
like  experience  with  the  literature  of  Great  Britain. 

It  has  been  stated  above  that  Greek  writers  often  speak 
of  the  evil  effects  producel  upon  the  mind  by  the  effort  to 
know  many  things.  This  judgment  is  not  only  endorsed 
by  the  universal  testimony  of  mankind,  but  by  the  exper- 
ience of  the  Greeks  themselves.  When  we  come  to  the  Al- 
exandrian period,  pre-eminently  an  encyclopedic  age,  we 
find  how  greatly  the  Greek  intellect  has  deteriorated. 
There  are  few  great  thinkers,  and  no  great  men  except  auto- 
cratic political  leaders.  The  Greek  literature  of  this  period 
is  vastly  inferior  to  that  which  preceded  it.  We  have  en- 
tered upon  an  era  of  great  scholars  who  are  often  mere 
pedants — men  sadly  lacking  in  the  power  of  original 
thought.  Yet  it  was  this  highly  artificial  product  that  was 
chiefly  admired  by  the  Romans.  We  know  more  of  it  from 
its  image  reflected  through  Roman  minds  than  we  do 
directly. 

Passing  thence  to  Rome  we  are  confronted  with  what 
may  well  be  regarded  as  a  peculiar  condition  of  things. 
The  Roman  people  manifested  almost  no  interest  in  intel- 
lectual pursuits.  The  meager  education  they  imparted  to 
their  youth  was  based  on  a  foreign  product.  The  lack  of 
imagination  is  strikingly  manifested  in  Roman  mythology. 
Yet  they  exhibited  a  genius  for  government  that  is  with- 
out a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  created,  with- 
out a  model,  a  body  of  laws  that  subsequently  became  the 
basis  of  all  European  legal  systems.  In  like  manner  the 
English  people,  at  least  before  the  present  century,  con- 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          35 

tributed  but  little  to  the  original  thought  of  the  world,  yet 
they  have  known  how  to  extend  their  empire  around  the 
globe.  Their  educational  system,  until  recently,  took  but 
little  account  of  the  common  people,  while  that  intended 
for  the  higher  classes  was  founded  on  the  intellectual  cre- 
ations of  Greece,  more  or  less  modified  by  Roman  ideas. 
Their  legal  system  is  likewise  more  original  than  any  other 
now  obtaining  in  Europe.  It  should  be  observed,  however, 
that  the  comparative  isolation  of  England  was  in  some 
measure  due  to  her  insular  position.  Her  history  presents 
some  striking  points  of  comparison  with  that  of  Eome,  so 
far  as  her  experience  with  tributary  nations  is  concerned, 
but  England  has  rarely  been  guilty  of  exploiting  her  col- 
onies for  the  benefit  of  the  mother  country.  Rome  did 
this  almost  systematically. 

If  the  aim  and  purpose  of  popular  education  is  to  train 
the  young  for  intelligent  action  in  institutional  life,  that 
of  the  Greeks  was  in  a  large  measure  a  failure.  As  a  po- 
litical factor  in  the  history  of  the  world  they  accomplished 
little  during  their  independence,  after  the  repulse  of  the 
Persians.  They  had  no  comprehension  of  the  importance 
of  a  regular  and  orderly  development  in  the  growth  and 
permanence  of  a  state.  Almost  every  man  of  large  views 
among  them  felt  constrained  for  reasons  of  personal  safety 
to  keep  aloof  from  the  political  turmoil  that  was  constantly 
seething  about  him.  Narrow  selfishness  usually  took  the 
place  of  broad  patriotism.  No  services,  however  brilliant, 
no  sacrifices,  however  great,  could  protect  a  citizen  from  the 
vindictive  whims  of  the  populace.  Too  many  men  were 
ever  ready  to  sacrifice  the  commonweal  for  personal  aggran- 
dizement. The  gold  of  the  despised  barbarian  was  al- 
ways welcome  to  those  who  sought  for  the  nonce  to  get  the 
better  of  a  rival.  In  no  country  has  political  animosity 


36  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

cost  so  many  lives  compared  with  the  whole  number  of  citi- 
zens; no  where  did  this  vindictiveness  profit  any  man  or 
any  party  so  little.  When  the  conflict  with  Philip,  and 
afterwards  with  Rome,  threatened  the  independence  of  the 
different  States  and  the  liberties  of  Greece;  when  only  a 
united  effort  could  repel  the  invader,  such  a  unity  of  effort 
could  not  be  brought  about.  Two  millenniums  later,  when 
the  Greeks  sought  to  shake  off  the  Turkish  yoke  the  event 
proved  that  they  had  learned  nothing  in  the  long  interim. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  intervention  of  foreign  powers 
Greece  would  to-day  be  a  province  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 

A  most  important  influence  was  exerted  in  Greek  educa- 
tion by  the  Sophists  or  "Masters,"  as  Bergh  calls  them. 
Though  only  a  passing  phenomenon,  they  fill  a  large  place 
in  the  intellectual  history  of  Athens  during  the  fifth  pre- 
Christian  century  after  the  repulse  of  the  Persians,  for  the 
accomplishment  of  which  Athens  had  made  the  largest 
sacrifices.  A  new  and  wider  horizon  opened  up  before  her 
young  men.  The  traditional  education  was  found  to  be 
too  circumscribed  to  meet  the  new  conditions.  At  the 
same  time  the  pre-eminence  of  Athens  attracted  men  from 
various  parts  of  the  Grecian  world  who  came  hither  to 
"make  their  fortune,"  as  we  say.  The  impressibility  of 
the  Ionic  temperament,  the  eagerness  with  which  all  proposed 
innovations  were  listened  to,  and  the  readiness  with  which 
new  enterprises  were  entered  upon,  especially  by  the  Athen- 
ians exposed  them  to  all  sorts  of  influences,  both  good  and 
bad.  Besides,  the  democratic  form  of  government  which 
opened  all  public  offices  to  shrewdness  and  a  glib  tongue, 
served  as  an  attraction  to  ambitious  spirits  who  were  for 
any  reason  discontented  with  the  conditions  at  home.  Here 
there  was  a  fertile  field  for  the  teachers  of  a  new  kind  of 
eloquence ;  for  men  who  professed  to  be  able  to  qualify  their 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          37 

pupils  to  talk  equally  well  on  opposite  sides  of  the  same 
question;  for  instructors  who  made  little  of  facts  but  at- 
tached the  greatest  importance  to  words.  Such  professors 
were  not  only  welcome  to  the  champions  of  a  democracy 
like  the  Athenian,  but  to  a  people  like  the  Greeks,  in  whom 
the  moral  forces  were  always  somewhat  weak.  The  inher- 
ent centrifugal  tendencies  of  the  Greek  political  ideals  was 
accentuated  by  the  doctrine  that  made  man  the  measure  of 
all  things,  while  conversely  the  doctrine  found  the  more 
ready  lodgment  in  minds  naturally  predisposed  to  receive 
it.  Aristophanes,  the  arch-conservative,  thus  contrasts  the 
old  education  with  the  new.  The  voice  of  the  past,  that  of 
the  "good  old  times,"  speaking  to  the  youth,  says,  "Choose, 
with  confidence,  me,  the  better  course,  and  you  will  learn 
to  hate  the  Agora,  and  to  refrain  from  baths,  and  to  be 
ashamed  of  what  is  disgraceful,  and  to  be  enraged  if  any 
one  jeer  at  you,  and  to  rise  up  from  your  seats  before  your 
seniors  when  they  approach,  and  not  to  behave  ill  toward 
your  parents,  and  to  do  nothing  else  that  is  base,  because 
you  are  to  form  your  mind  in  an  image  of  modesty.  You 
shall  spend  your  time  in  the  gymnastic  schools,  sleek  and 
blooming;  not  chattering  in  the  market-place  rude  jests, 
like  the  young  of  the  present  day ;  nor  dragged  into  court 
for  a  petty  suit,  greedy,  pettifogging,  knavish;  but  you 
shall  descend  to  the  Academy  and  run  races  beneath  the 
sacred  olives  along  with  some  modest  compeer.  If  you  do 
these  things  which  I  say,  and  apply  your  mind  to  these, 
you  will  ever  have  a  stout  chest,  a  clear  complexion,  broad 
shoulders,  a  little  tongue,  large  hips,  little  lewdness.  But 
if  you  practice  what  the  youths  of  the  present  day  do,  you 
will  have  in  the  first  place  a  pallid  complexion,  small  shoul- 
ders, a  narrow  chest,  a  large  tongue,  little  hips,  great  lewd- 
ness,  a  long  psephism ;  and  t his  innovator  will  persuade  you 


38  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

to  consider  everything  that  is  base  to  be  honorable,  and 
what  is  honorable  to  be  base."  After  making  all  allowance 
for  the  license  of  the  poet  and  the  enthusiasm  of  a  laudator 
temporis  acti  this  quotation  from  the  Clouds  probably  pre- 
sents a  view  of  the  case  as  it  appeared  to  many  Athenians 
toward  the  close  of  the  fifth  century  B.  C. 

While  the  activity  of  the  Sophists  was  confined  to  a  single 
century,  the  influence  they  exerted  upon  Greek  education 
was  ineffaceable.  Moreover,  we  meet  with  teachers  of  this 
type  at  two  or  three  periods  during  the  first  Christian 
centuries.  While  they  differ  from  the  older  Sophists  in 
minor  points,  they  are  their  true  spiritual  descendants  in 
the  stress  they  lay  on  the  ability  to  speak  interestingly  and 
persuasively  on  any  topic,  no  matter  how  void  of  content. 

The  study  of  the  poets  in  the  schools  of  ancient  Greece 
seems  to  have  been  about  as  follows :  Boys  are  first  taught 
their  letters  at  school, — for  be  it  remembered  that  girls  do 
not  go  to  school — and  as  soon  as  they  can  read  a  little,  the 
teacher  places  in  their  hands  as  they  sit  on  benches,  the 
works  of  good  poets,  which  they  are  required  to  learn  thor- 
oughly. How  much  of  the  teaching  was  oral  we  do  not 
know,  but  some  of  it  must  have  been  from  manuscript 
copies.  "The  purpose  was  not  only  to  form  the  boy's  lit- 
erary taste,  or  to  give  him  the  traditional  lore;  it  was  es- 
pecially a  moral  purpose,  having  regard  to  the  precepts  in 
the  poets,  and  to  the  praises  of  great  men  of  old, — 'in  order 
that  the  boy  may  emulate  their  examples  and  may  strive  to 
become  such  as  they/  " — Jebb. 

So  late  as  the  close  of  the  first  century  B.  C.  Homer  still 
holds  his  place  in  the  schools  as  a  text-book  for  children. 
It  should,  however,  be  remarked  that  some  of  the  ancient 
philosophers  objected  to  this  universal  use  of  Homer  on 
moral  grounds,  and  with  good  reason;  but,  so  far  as  we 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION,          39 

know,  their  protests  produced  no  effect.  As  usual,  it  was 
the  status  quo  that  so  long  held  its  ground  against  the  ini- 
tiative. 

Here  again  our  thoughts  almost  involuntarily  turn  to 
Italy  and  Germany,  the  home  of  music,  poetry,  painting 
and  philosophy — countries  until  recently  as  badly  governed 
as  the  states  of  ancient  Greece.  Only  after  centuries  of 
internecine  strife,  disintegration,  and  the  most  wretched 
administration  have  these  countries  achieved  a  national 
unity,  the  permanence  of  which  is  by  no  means  assured. 
Will  their  efficient  educational  system  effect  what  the 
genius  of  the  people  aimed  at  in  vain?  It  is  not  much 
wonder  that  practical  people  do  not  greatly  concern  them- 
selves about  national  education.  The  Greeks  were  not 
lacking  in  patriotism.  Their  orators  are  never  weary  of 
calling  up  the  memory  of  the  heroes  of  Marathon  and  Ther- 
mopylae, and  their  hearers  never  failed  to  manifest  a  justi- 
fiable pride  in  the  glorious  deeds  of  their  ancestors.  But 
they  could  not  be  aroused  to  emulation  and  to  a  willingness 
to  make  similar  sacrifices  when  occasion  called. 

Greek  writers  on  education  generally  lay  much  strees  on 
the  importance  of  making  the  systems  of  instruction  con- 
form to  the  existing  constitution.  Speaking  broadly,  this 
means  that  where  the  established  form  of  government  is 
aristocratic,  the  young  should  be  taught  to  respect  it,  and 
where  democratic  it  should  be  looked  upon  with  the  same 
feeling.  Socrates,  as  is  well  known,  went  to  the  farthest 
extreme  in  his  reverence  for  the  laws  of  his  country,  and 
voluntarily  sacrificed  his  life  to  an  edict  that  he  held  to  be 
clearly  unjust.  He  felt,  as  few  men  have  felt  since  his 
time,  that  for  no  possible  excuse  should  a  law  be  evaded. 
Though  a  great  admirer  of  the  institutions  of  his  native 
city,  he  was  keenly  alive  to  the  pernicious  influence  of 


40  "WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

demagogues,  a  class  of  men  who  were  ever  ready  to  advo- 
cate any  measure  that  promised  to  subserve  their  immediate 
ends.  During  his  trial  he  tells  his  judges  that  he  is  di- 
vinely commissioned  to  act  as  a  monitor  to  his  countrymen, 
and  that  he  dared  not  abridge  his  life  by  exposing  it  to  the 
animosity  of  an  opposing  political  party. 

Convinced  as  he  was  that  virtue  and  knowledge  were  re- 
ciprocally interchangeable  terms,  he  believed  that  all  that 
was  needed  to  make  a  man  virtuous  was  to  make  him  intel- 
ligent. The  corollary  to  this  belief  was  that  the  form  of 
government  under  which  men  live  was  unimportant.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  chief  thinkers  of  the  Socratic  school 
were  not  fully  in  accord  with  their  master  on  this  point, 
and  nearly  all  exhibit  a  preference  for  the  aristocratic  con- 
stitution of  the  Dorians.  The  fickle  democracies  of  their 
times  wrought  a  feeling  of  disgust  in  the  minds  of  most 
thinking  men  who  were  not  practical  politicians,  and  they 
looked  to  a  government  in  the  hands  of  a  small  number  of 
persons  to  guarantee  the  State  against  ever  recurring  inno- 
vations. We  have  in  these  opinions  some  pretty  clear  an- 
ticipations of  compulsory  education  as  advocated  in  recent 
years  by  the  majority  of  educators.  It  was  held  that  a 
strong  government  should  early  take  the  prospective  citi- 
zen in  hand  and  instruct  him  in  the  political  duties  that 
pertained  to  the  sphere  he  was  intended  to  fill. 

The  ruinous  effects  of  democratic  government  in  Greece 
became,  in  the  course  of  time  painfully  evident,  yet  it  is 
not  easy  to  see  that,  in  the  main,  the  aristocrats  governed 
any  better.  Greece,  indeed,  found  peace  under  the  protec- 
tion of  a  strong  power  exerted  from  without,  but  it  was 
at  the  expense  of  all  that  had  made  her  a  conspicuous  place 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  Plainly,  the  price  paid  was 
much  too  high  for  the  value  of  the  commodity. 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          41 

Many  intelligent  Greeks  seem  to  have  reached  the  same 
conclusion  now  held  by  not  a  few  of  our  thinkers.  An 
enormous  mass  of  matter  issues  from  the  press  in  our  day 
designed  to  warn  the  public  against  the  dangers  to  be  appre- 
hended from  an  unenlightened  democrac}r.  The  only  rem- 
edy proposed  is  more  intelligence  for  the  masses.  Our  pan- 
acea is  likewise  a  thorough  system  of  instruction  vigorously 
administered.  In  fact,  the  same  view  is  generally  held  in 
Europe,  and  current  history  is  a  repetition  on  a  large  scale 
of  the  history  of  ancient  Greece.  The  Germans  expect  to 
strengthen  and  perpetuate  monarchy  by  a  thorough  and  effi- 
cient system  of  public  instruction ;  the  English  and  French 
look  for  the  same  results  from  the  same  cause  under  a  re- 
gime in  which  democracy  is  constantly  growing  in  power 
and  influence. 

An  important  fact  that  should  always  be  kept  in  mind  in 
the  study  of  Greek  education  is  that  even  where  it  was  not 
aristocratic  it  was  always  exclusive.  It  kept  in  view  but  a 
small  portion  of  the  actual  population.  The  inhabitants  of 
Attica,  during  the  period  here  under  discussion  probably 
varied  in  number  from  400,000  to  600,000.  Of  these  from 
20,000  to  30,000  were  citizens.  The  remainder  were  slaves, 
with  a  small  number  of  resident  aliens.  'Women  were  en- 
tirely excluded  from  the  benefit  of  systematic  intellectual 
training.  All  they  learned  related  exclusively  to  domestic 
affairs.  The  few  women  who  figure  in  Greek  history  were, 
at  least  so  far  as  Athens  is  concerned,  of  the  class  whose 
reputation  was  questionable.  There  were  not  lacking  evi- 
dences of  dissatisfaction  with  this  state  of  affairs,  but  it 
produced  no  tangible  results. 

Slavery  was  an  institution  so  firmly  established  in  the  so- 
cial fabric  of  antiquity  that  we  rarely  meet  with  any  who 
questioned  its  justice.  Greek  writers,  almost  without  ex- 


42  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

ception,  looked  upon  it  as  founded  in  the  nature  of  man. 
They  held  that  many  men  are  servile  by  nature  and  only 
fitted  to  be  in  subjection  to  others.  Admitting  this  reason- 
ing to  be  correct,  we  are  at  a  loss  to  see  how  they  overlooked 
the  fact  that  men  often  fell  into  slavery  through  no  fault 
of  their  own.  The  almost  inevitable  fate  of  the  vanquished 
in  war  was  to  be  sold  into  servitude,  a  fate  that  bore  heavi- 
est on  women  and  children.  These  rarely  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  choosing  between  death  and  bondage.  The  in- 
tense love  of  liberty  that  has  always  been  a  conspicuous  trait 
of  the  Greek  character  makes  it  all  the  more  remarkable 
that  slavery  should  be  regarded  by  them  as  the  proper  con- 
dition of  many  people,  not  excepting  some  that  belonged 
to  their  own  race. 

NOTE. — It  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  said  that  the  Stoics  taught,  at 
least  indirectly,  if  not  directly,  the  natural  equality  of  all  and 
the  universal  right  to  freedom.  Paul  doubtless  had  this  doc- 
trine in  mind  in  his  speech  on  Mars  Hill  when  he  said  that  God 
had  "made  of  one  every  nation  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 
of  the  earth."  But  neither  Christianity  nor  Stoicism  exerted  any 
marked  influence  on  the  status  of  the  members  of  the  body  politic 
for  many  centuries,  and  therefore  not  on  that  of  the  slave.  The 
early  converts  who  were  slaves,  did  not  claim  that  their  conver- 
sion gave  them  any  title  to  freedom,  and  Christian  masters  did 
not  feel  called  upon  to  manumit  those  in  bondage  to  them.  That 
in  Christ  "there  is  neither  bond  nor  free"  must  not  be  understood 
as  interfering  with  the  social  condition  of  those  professing  it  any 
more  than  the  same  admission  would  have  required  the  Southern 
white  man  to  treat  his  blacks  as  his  equals.  The  theory  repre- 
sented an  aspiration  that  had  hardly  a  perceptible  influence  on  the 
fact.  In  like  manner  the  dictum  that  "God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons" was  equally  held  by  the  later  Stoics  and  the  Christians;  but 
its  practical  effect  hardly  meant  more  than  that  the  Christian 
master  will  treat  his  slave  in  a  brotherly  manner  and  the  Chris- 
tian slave  will  serve  his  master  faithfully.  The  early  Christian 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          43 

Freedom  to  do,  at  least  within  certain  limits,  whatever 
one  liked,  was  a  right  that  was  always  ardently  maintained 
by  the  Athenians.  Thucydides  lays  great  stress  upon  this 
trait  of  his  countrymen  in  the  well-known  oration  that  he 
puts  in  the  mouth  of  Pericles.  The  Spartans  who  gave  up 
their  lives  at  Thermopylae  desired  posterity  to  know  that 
this  deed  of  patriotism  was  done  in  obedience  to  the  laws  of 
their  country.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Athenians  exhibited 
equal  bravery  at  Marathon  and  elsewhere  because  they  rec- 
ognized that  the  liberty  of  all  Greece  was  at  stake.  Theirs 
was  a  voluntary  sacrifice  for  the  good  of  their  country,  not 
mere  obedience  to  law.  It  was  a  notable  exhibition  of  in- 
dividual prowess  rather  than  obedience  to  tradition. 

Nowhere  was  this  love  of  liberty  and  the  lack  of  it  more 
strikingly  shown  than  in  the  educational  system  of  the  two 
states.  In  Sparta  the  child  became  at  birth,  or  even  be- 
fore, the  ward  of  the  state.  It  was  trained  by  the  state 
and  for  the  state  exclusively.  We  are  astonished  at  the 
overwhelming  power  of  tradition.  But  as  this  training  was 
almost  entirely  of  a  military  character,  it  was  of  little  value 
except  in  times  of  war.  The  arts  of  peace  received  no  at- 
tention, and  the  consequences  could  not  be  otherwise  than 
disastrous.  Sparta,  like  Athens,  fell  a  prey  to  the  foreign 
conqueror,  and  left  behind  no  memorials  of  her  former 
greatness.  But  Athens,  even  in  her  ruins,  is  glorious. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  even  in  Athens  the  state,  or 
a  strong  public  sentiment,  required  the  citizen  to  give  his 


teachers  were  even  more  careful  than  the  Stoics  not  to  countenance 
anything  that  might  cause  them  to  fall  under  the  suspicion  of 
stirring  up  sedition.  Their  disciples  seem  to  have  been  equally  on 
their  guard.  It  is  worth  noting,  too,  that  under  some  of  the 
Roman  emperors  the  Stoics,  no  lees  than  the  Christians,  were  per- 
secuted. 


44  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

boys  at  least  the  rudiments  of  an  education;  but  no  more 
seems  to  have  been  required,  and  there  is  ample  evidence  on 
record  that  not  all  Athenians  were  intelligent.  If  a  citi- 
zen neglected  the  education  of  his  sons  it  was  a  matter  that 
concerned  only  the  parties  in  interest  and  nobody  else. 
There  were  laws  to  regulate  the  management  of  schools, 
but  apparently  none  compelling  their  establishment. 

The  Greeks  considered  plenty  of  leisure  as  an  indispens- 
able prerequisite  to  liberal  culture.  They  could  not  con- 
ceive that  a  person  who  was  compelled  to  labor  with  his 
hands  might  also  be  an  earnest  searcher  after  truth.  The 
importance  of  liberal  culture  being  conceded,  it  was  argued 
that  plenty  of  spare  time  was  necessary  for  its  acquisition, 
and  that  it  could  only  be  had  by  relegating  to  slaves  those 
callings  that  were  necessary  to  provide  the  means  of  liveli- 
hood for  all.  The  question  does  not  seem  ever  to  have  been 
seriously  considered  by  any  one  whether  it  was  possible  so 
to  educate  those  who  have  to  toil  with  their  hands  that  they 
might  find  in  their  hours  of  relaxation  the  solace  and  en- 
joyment of  a  trained  intellect. 

The  treatment  of  slaves  in  Attica  was  exceptionally  mild. 
All  the  Greeks  were  simple  in  their  manner  of  life  and 
their  wants  were  easily  supplied.  Nevertheless,  the  free  citi- 
zen was  expected  to  devote  himself  to  philosophy  and  to 
politics,  but  not  to  a  handicraft  of  any  kind.  The  poorest 
were  not  without  their  slaves,  whose  duty  it  was  to  provide 
for  their  physical  wants.  It  must  not  be  inferred  that  be- 
cause leisure  and  literature  were  here  found  together,  the 
one  was  the  necessary  corollary  of  the  other.  The  people 
of  our  Southern  States  before  the  War  of  the  Eebellion 
were  not  lacking  in  leisure.  A  social  system  existed  not  un- 
like that  which  prevailed  in  ancient  Greece,  yet  the  South 
produced  neither  artists,  nor  literary  men,  nor  philosophers. 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          45 

Even  its  politicians  were  as  much  of  a  failure  as  those  of 
ancient  Greece.  The  literary  product  of  England  did  not 
come  from  the  leisure  class.  The  English  nobility  were 
often  the  patrons  of  literary  men,  but  not  themselves  cre- 
ators of  literature.  From  these  facts  it  is  again  evident 
that  when  we  study  the  ancient  Greeks  we  are  dealing,  not 
with  a  peculiar  condition,  but  with  a  unique  people. 

When  we  are  examining  Greek  education  it  is  well  to 
keep  in  mind  the  important  part  played  in  it  by  the  social 
habits  of  the  people.  In  time  of  peace  it  was  customary 
for  many  of  the  citizens  to  meet  together  almost  daily  for 
purposes  of  literary  and  philosophical  discussion.  That  ques- 
tions of  this  kind  were  not  of  interest  to  all  is  sufficiently 
evident ;  but  that  many  took  part  in  them  is  well  attested, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  political  clubs  of  Athens  and 
other  Greek  cities  were  the  foci  of  all  manner  of  schemes. 
No  better  school  for  young  men  can  be  imagined  than  these 
coteries,  in  which  older  men  were  the  chief  speakers,  and 
where  all  questions  of  human  interest  were  discussed  over 
and  over.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  name  a  score  of 
men  who  might  be  found  together  in  Athens  at  almost  any 
time  during  the  period  here  under  consideration,  whose 
conversation,  if  well  profited  by  for  a  year  or  two,  would 
of  itself  constitute  a  liberal  education.  How  valuable  such 
a  privilege  was  no  one  in  our  day  can  so  well  appreciate  as 
the  solitary  student.  The  Greeks  had  a  strong  aversion  to 
the  written  character.  On  this  point  I  can  not  do  better 
than  to  quote  the  words  of  Butcher.  Says  he :  "The  sever- 
ance between  writing  and  the  fine  arts — beneficent  as  it 
was  from  the  artistic  point  of  view,  and  no  less  so 
from  the  point  of  view  of  convenience — was  unhappy  for 
the  prestige  of  writing,  which  was  long  regarded  by  the 
Greeks  as  mechanical,  symbolic — almost  cabalistic.  They 


46  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

dissociated  from  it  the  notion  of  organic  beauty  and  artistic 
form.  Now,  as  artists,  they  disliked  all  mere  routine — all 
work  that  was  merely  mechanical.  The  free  inspiration  of 
the  poet  was  checked  by  the  use  of  conventional  symbols; 
the  epic  and  the  drama  depended,  if  not  for  their  very  ex- 
istence, at  least  for  their  vitality,  on  the  living  voice  and 
on  listening  crowds.  Add  to  this  fact  that  poetry,  with  its 
musical  accompaniments,  could  be  carried  in  the  memory 
without  external  aid  and  appliances.  *  *  *  *  Socrates 
says  writing  is  the  mere  image  or  phantom  of  the  living  and 
animated  word.  It  does  not  teach  what  was  not  known  be- 
fore; it  only  serves  to  remind  the  reader  of  something 
that  he  already  knew.  It  enfeebles  the  power  of  thought. 
It  is  delusive  even  as  an  aid  to  memory,  for  it  weakens  and 
supersedes  this  faculty  by  providing  an  artificial  substitute. 
Moreover,  it  has  no  power  of  adaptation;  it  speaks  in  one 
voice  to  all;  it  cannot  answer  questions,  meet  objections, 
correct  misunderstandings,  or  supplement  its  own  omis- 
sions." 

The  student  of  Greek  pedagogy  can  hardly  fail  to  be  im- 
pressed with  its  weakness  in  what  we  call  its  moral  ele- 
ments. Socrates,  indeed,  taught  that  it  was  just  as  far 
from  right  to  injure  an  enemy  as  to  injure  a  friend,  and 
his  countrymen  seem  to  have  had  a  sort  of  vague  notion 
that  justice  prevails  in  the  end.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Greek  orators  in  their  harangues  seldom  appeal  to  any  other 
motive  than  a  rather  narrow  and  short-sighted  expediency. 
Whatever  they  may  have  thought,  they  seem  to  have  felt 
that  it  was  only  by  such  appeals  that  they  could  produce 
the  impression  they  desired  upon  their  auditors.  A  kind  of 
fatalism,  either  latent  or  expressed,  runs  through  the  en- 
tire body  of  Greek  literature.  It  seems  to  have  been  ad- 
mitted that  men  might  do  what  they  would,  the  event  lay 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.          47 

in  the  hands  of  the  gods,  who  were  often  whimsical,  and 
who  often  interfered  in  the  best  laid  schemes  of  mortals 
without  regard  to  their  moral  qualities.  The  religious  be- 
lief of  the  Greeks,  so  largely  formed  and  moulded  by  the 
Homeric  Poems,  had  a  deleterious  effect  upon  their  con- 
duct. This  was  so  keenly  felt  by  men  like  Plato  that  they 
wished  to  exclude  them  from  the  list  of  educational  books. 
But  this  was  only  a  theory,  and  no  one  seems  to  have  ever 
thought  seriously  of  putting  it  into  practice.  These  poems 
exhibit,  along  with  much  that  is  surpassingly  beautiful, 
the  most  revolting  scenes  of  inhumanity,  unchastity,  lying 
and  deception.  There  could  hardly  be  a  greater  contrast 
between  the  books  now  put  into  the  hands  of  the  young 
and  those  that  were  in  the  hands  of  Greek  boys  from  their 
earliest  childhood.  The  effect  of  this  teaching,  both  direct 
and  indirect,  was  of  the  most  pernicious  character.  The 
qualities  most  conspicuous  in  Greek  heroes  of  both  history 
and  fiction  were  rarely  such  as  would  now  commend  them 
for  imitation. 

There  is  nothing  more  prominent  in  the  instruction  of 
the  young  Greek  than  the  extraordinary  stress  laid  upon 
the  cultivation  of  the  memory.  It  is  the  key-note  of  the 
entire  system.  From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  school 
days  he  was  constantly  employed  in  learning  by  heart  the 
literature  of  his  country.  The  case  of  a  young  man  is  re- 
corded by  Xenophon  who  was  required  by  his  father  to 
commit  to  memory  the  entire  poems  of  Homer;  and  there 
is  nothing  in  the  anecdote  to  show  that  the  feat  was  re- 
garded as  exceptional.  In  this  connection  we  may  also  re- 
mind our  readers  of  the  story  told  regarding  the  humane 
treatment  accorded  by  the  Sicilians  to  those  Athenian  cap- 
tives who  could  repeat  considerable  portions  of  the  dramas 
of  Euripides.  In  this  respect  the  later  Greeks  were  doubt- 


48  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

less  influenced  by  the  earlier  rhapsodists  who  were  in  the 
habit  of  reciting  long  extracts  from  the  Homeric  Poems  at 
the  various  entertainments  and  assemblies  so  common 
among  their  countrymen. 

Yet  this  method,  now  regarded  as  so  objectionable,  and 
which  is  so  rapidly  going  out  of  use,  not  only  produced 
great  literary  characters,  but  great  thinkers,  great  his- 
torians, great  physicians,  great  mathematicians,  great  sci- 
entists, great  artists,  and  great  orators.  With  these  facts 
and  results  before  us,  is  it  not  safe  to  conclude  that  but 
one  thing  is  indispensable  for  the  most  efficient  intellectual 
training  of  the  young,  and  that  is  a  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  highest  literary  achievements  of  the  race?  The 
example  and  experience  of  the  ancient  Greeks  furnishes 
useful  lessons  for  our  time,  both  positively  and  negatively; 
positively,  as  showing  that  a  small  amount  of  knowledge 
may  be  so  used  as  to  produce  intellectual  excellence  of  the 
highest  order;  negatively  as  making  plain  the  fact  that 
something  more  than  this  is  needed  to  make  good  citizens 
and  guarantee  the  perpetuity  of  the  state. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  to  which  there  is  room  here  for 
only  a  passing  reference,  that  our  own  day  is  the  witness  of 
a  return  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  Greek  pedagogy 
in  the  prominent  place  advocated  for  the  study  of  litera- 
ture. What  the  Greeks  actually  did  we  are  strongly  urged 
to  uo,  namely,  to  begin  the  study  of  the  best  authors  in  the 
lowest  grades  and  continue  it  through  the  highest.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  the  modern  movement  has  no  connec- 
tion with  antiquity,  but  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  careful  study 
of  our  social  condition  and  needs.  Nevertheless,  some- 
thing more  than  literature  is  necessary.  Mere  literature  is 
a  product  that  is  too  spontaneous  in  its  origin  to  be  a  safe 
guide  to  conduct.  We  need  to  know  history;  we  need  to 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.         ±9 

have  placed  before  our  young  people  the  results  of  con- 
duct, the  political  and  social  experience  of  the  race,  if  we 
would  have  them  learn  the  effect  of  human  conduct  on 
the  happiness  or  misery  of  mankind.  If  the  habitual  prac- 
tice of  honesty,  chastity,  sobriety,  truthfulness,  self-denial 
for  the  good  of  others,  do  not  in  the  long  run  bring  the 
greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,  and  if  the  disregard 
of  these  virtues  does  not  produce  the  opposite  results,  as 
shown  by  the  experience  of  the  older  governments,  where 
shall  we  find  our  sanctions  for  moral  conduct? 

The  extraordinary  amount  of  attention  bestowed  upon 
athletic  training  by  the  Greeks  has  been  referred  to  above, 
and  is,  moreover,  a  fact  so  well  known  that  not  much  need 
be  said  about  it  here.  Strength,  agility,  swiftness,  and  en- 
durance were  qualities  of  supreme  importance  to  the  citi- 
zens of  states  that  were  more  at  war  than  at  peace.  The 
Athenians  strove  to  make  sound  bodies  as  well  as  sound 
minds ;  or,  rather,  they  regarded  both  as  of  equal  import- 
ance. The  Spartans,  on  the  other  hand,  almost  wholly 
neglected  the  mind,  but  trained  the  body  to  the  highest  de- 
gree of  efficiency.  The  practice  of  athletic  games  was  more 
nearly  universal  among  the  Greeks  than  attention  to  moral 
culture.  The  various  governments  provided  the  necessary 
buildings  and  appurtenances  with  far  greater  liberality 
than  they  provided  for  schools.  A  collection  of  houses 
among  which  there  was  no  gymnasium  was  not  regarded  as 
entitled  to  the  name  of  city.  It  was  especially  in  athletic 
contests  that  emulation  and  rivalry  were  stimulated  to  the 
highest  degree.  The  Athenians,  however,  went  farther  and 
instituted  literary  contests,  and  their  intellectual  superi- 
ority is  in  no  small  degree  due  to  this  fact. 

Sparta  and  Athens  are  usually  spoken  of  as  the  leading 
states  of  Greece,  but  we  do  not  always  keep  in  mind  that 


50  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

what  we  know  of  the  achievements  of  Spartans  comes  to  us 
through  the  records  of  their  hereditary  enemies,  the  Ath- 
enians. To  the  latter  we  may  fitly  apply  the  words  of 
Longfellow  and  say  that  most  of  them  are  both  "writers 
and  fighters ;"  to  the  former  the  line  of  Dr.  Johnson  is  more 
suitable,  for  they  live  to  us  only  "To  point  a  moral  or  adorn 
a  tale." 

As  the  moon  and  the  stars  would  be  invisible  except  for 
the  illuminating  rays  of  the  sun,  so  Sparta  and  the  lesser 
states  of  Greece  would  emit  but  a  few  faint  glimmerings  in 
the  dark  vista  of  history  were  it  not  for  the  light  shed  upon 
them  by  Athens.  If  we  would  form  a  just  estimate  of  this 
remarkable  people  we  need  to  keep  in  mind  the  small  num- 
ber of  Athenian  citizens  at  any  time,  and  then  consider  that 
among  this  number  were  more  men  in  a  single  century  who 
profoundly  influenced  the  progress  of  thought  than  ever 
appeared  in  the  same  length  of  time  subsequently  in  the 
whole  world. 

While  its  true  that  the  conditions  under  which  they  lived 
cannot  again  be  restored,  the  study  of  this  age,  so  prolific 
in  great  men,  must  ever  continue  to  be  one  of  profound  in- 
terest. No  wonder  that  Schiller,  looking  back  from  the 
troublous  times  in  which  he  lived,  should  give  vent  to  the 
feelings  that  burdened  his  sad  heart  in  the  beautiful  lan- 
guage of  his  poem,  "The  Gods  of  Greece/'  the  closing  stanza 
of  which  reads : 

"Home!   and  with  them  are  gone 

The  hues  they  gazed  on  and  the  tones  they  heard ; 
Life's  beauty  and  life's  Melody: — alone 

Broods  o'er  the  desolate  void,  the  lifeless  Word; 
Yet,  rescued  from  Time's  deluge,  still  they  throng 

Unseen  the  Pindus  they  were  wont  to  cherish : 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.  51 

Ah,  that  which  gains  immortal  life  in  song, 
To  mortal  life  must  perish  I" 

The  genius  of  the  Greek  people,  as  expressed  in  literature 
and  art,  remained  but  a  short  time  at  the  zenith  of  its 
glory.  Greek  history  is  not  without  interest,  even  to  the 
fall  of  the  Eastern  Empire;  but  more  than  a  thousand 
years  .before  this  event  took  place  those  elements  of  Greek 
social  life  that  are  the  most  important  to  posterity  had 
virtually  disappeared  from  the  earth.  The  Alexandrian 
period  was  one  of  intense  intellectual  activity,  but  this 
activity  was  concerned  almost  wholly  with  the  past.  After 
Greece  had  become  a  Eoman  province,  schools  of  rhetoric 
were  established  and  maintained  in  nearly  all  the  cities 
and  towns  of  the  East  as  well  as  in  Greece  proper.  A 
knowledge  of  the  Greek  language  was  a  common  accom- 
plishment in  almost  the  whole  Roman  Empire,  and  there 
seem  to  have  been  few  illiterates.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact 
that  Paul  wrote  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans  in  Greek.  Long- 
after  the  separation  of  the  Eastern  from  the  Western  Em- 
pire the  great  mass  of  the  classical  writings,  as  well  as 
most  of  what  had  been  produced  in  the  interim,  was  still  in 
existence,  and  much  of  it  read  in  the  schools.  It  is  to  the 
Saracens  and,  perhaps,  in  an  equal  degree  to  the  inroads 
of  the  Crusaders  that  is  due  the  immense  loss  of  manu- 
scripts that  modern  students  so  greatly  deplore. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  contemplate  the  history  of  Greece 
without  a  feeling  of  profound  sorrow  for  her  manifold 
misfortunes  and  a  feeling  of  contempt  for  her  wretched 
statecraft.  All  accessible  evidence  goes  to  prove  that  the 
lessons  of  the  past  have  been  almost  wholly  lost  on  the 
present  generation,  no  less  than  upon  their  immediate 
predecessors  for  two  or  three  generations.  Nations  have 


52  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

no  guide  for  the  future  but  the  experience  of  the  past,  and 
if  they  refuse  or  neglect  to  profit  thereby  they  are  certain 
to  reap  the  bitter  fruits  of  their  folly  and  shortsightedness. 
It  is  a  sad  fact  that  though  the  people  of  Europe  have 
been  studying  Greek  life  for  at  least  five  hundred  years 
they  have  profited  little  by  the  lesson  left  upon  record — 
as  little  as  the  Greeks  themselves.  The  moderns  appro- 
priated from  the  ancients  what  gratified  the  taste,  but 
gave  hardly  any  practical  attention  to  the  things  that 
would  have  made  life  a  thousandfold  more  worth  living. 
What  would  we  say  of  the  wisdom  of  that  man  who  should 
give  much  attention  to  the  art  of  dressing  well  and  taste- 
fully but  should  concern  himself  little  about  the  laws  of 
health?  In  theory  no  one  maintains  that  it  is  better  to 
look  well  than  to  be  well;  in  practice  this  is  the  uncon- 
scious maxim  the  vast  majority  have  followed.  Of  no 
people  can  it  be  said  with  more  truth  than  of  the  Greeks : 
if  the  will  of  the  majority  had  supported  the  wisdom  of 
the  intelligent — not  the  intellectual — minority,  the  history 
of  the  world  would  have  been  many  times  brighter. 

NOTE. — Francis  Gallon,  a  severely  scientific  investigator  thus 
expresses  himself  in  regard  to  the  Greeks,  in  his  Hereditary  Ge- 
nius. "The  ablest  race  of  whom  history  bears  record  is  un- 
questionably the  ancient  Greek,  partly  because  their  master 
pieces  in  the  principal  departments  of  intellectual  activity  are 
still  unsurpassed  and  in  many  respects  unequalled,  and  partly 
because  the  population  that  gave  birth  to  the  creators  of  these 
masterpieces  was  very  small."  He  then  gives  a  list  of  the  dis- 
tinguished men  produced  between  530  and  430  B.  C.  numbering 
fourteen.  After  citing  a  quantity  of  facts,  he  says  further:  "It 
follows  from  all  this  that  the  average  ability  of  the  Athenian 
race  is,  on  the  lowest  possible  estimate,  very  nearly  two  grades 
higher  than  our  own — that  is,  about  as  much  as  our  race  is  above 
the  negro.  This  estimate,  which  may  seem  prodigious  to  some, 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  EDUCATION.  53 

» 

is  confirmed  by  the  quick  intelligence  and  high  culture  of  the 
Athenian  community  before  whom  literary  works  were  recited 
and  works  of  art  exhibited,  of  a  far  more  severe  character  than 
could  possibly  be  appreciated  by  the  average  of  our  race,  the 
caliber  of  whose  intellect  is  easily  gauged  by  the  contents  of  a 
railway  book-stall." 

His  reasons,  actual  and  inferential,  for  the  rapid  decline  of  the 
"marvelously-gifted  race"  are  thus  stated.  "Social  morality  grew 
exceedingly  lax ;  marriage  became  unfashionable  and  was  avoided ; 
many  of  the  more  accomplished  and  ambitious  women  were 
avowed  courtesans,  and  consequently  infertile,  and  the  mothers 
of  the  incoming  population  were  of  a  heterogenous  class.  In  a 
small  sea-bordered  country  where  emigration  and  immigration 
are  constantly  going  on,  and  where  the  manners  are  as  dissolute  as 
were  those  of  Greece  in  the  period  of  which  I  speak,  the  purity  of 
a  race  would  necessarily  fail.  It  can  be,  therefore,  no  surprise 
to  us,  though  it  has  been  a  severe  misfortune  to  humanity,  that 
the  high  Athenian  breed  decayed  and  disappeared;  for  if  it  had 
maintained  its  excellence,  and  had  multiplied  and  spread  over 
large  countries,  displacing  inferior  populations  (which  it  might 
well  have  done,  for  it  was  naturally  very  prolific),  it  would  as- 
suredly have  accomplished  results  advantageous  to  human  civiliza- 
tion, to  a  degree  that  transcends  our  powers  of  imagination." 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS. 

There  is  perhaps  no  social  question  on  which  it  is  more 
difficult  to  form  a  correct  opinion  than  upon  the  ethical 
standard  of  a  people.  It  is  not  easy  when  we  take  into  ac- 
count our  contemporaries,  or  even  our  neighbors ;  but  it  is 
tenfold  more  difficult  when  we  study  nations  that  are  widely 
separated  from  us  in  time  and  space,  or  both.  An  addi- 
tional element  of  complexity  is  introduced  into  the  prob- 
lem by  the  fact  that  ethical  standards  are  not  uniform,  nor 
are  all  the  parts  that  enter  into  it  regarded  as  of  equal  im- 
portance. They  exhibit  a  kind  of  moral  stratification, 
some  of  the  layers  of  which  are  thick  and  easily  observed, 
while  others  are  thin,  or  do  not  exist  at  all.  It  is  true,  the 
moral  characteristics  of  a  nation  have  more  or  less  relation 
to  each  other,  but  they  are  not  all,  nor  necessarily,  con- 
nected. For  instance,  commercial  integrity  is  not  always 
found  associated  with  continence,  or  with  that  virtue  that 
is  known  in  modern  times  as  temperance.  It  is  safe  to  say, 
that,  on  the  whole,  the  commercial  integrity  of  the  French 
is  as  high  as  that  of  the  English ;  but  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  social  purity  is  regarded  as  of  less  import- 
ance by  the  former  than  the  latter.  Again,  in  a  study  of 

(54) 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.  55 

the  virtues  and  vices  of  a  people,  we  are  generally  com- 
pelled to  get  our  data  at  second  hand,  to  use  testimony 
that  is  always  liable  to  be  more  or  less  distorted;  in  short, 
to  depend  largely  on  inferences,  in  the  drawing  of  which 
men  are  apt  to  differ  widely.  But  if  the  evidence  is  fur- 
nished by  our  contemporaries,  and  especially  by  men  and 
concerning  men  occupying  about  the  plane  of  civilization 
with  ourselves,  we  are  in  the  least  possible  danger  of  draw- 
ing erroneous  conclusions. 

But  there  are  other  facts  that  may  lead  to  error.  It  is 
well  known  that  two  spoken  or  written  words,  while  ap- 
parently meaning  the  same  thing,  may,  in  fact,  differ 
widely  in  signification.  Persons  using  the  same  expres- 
sions do  not  necessarily  mean  the  same  thing.  Without 
knowing  somewhat  intimately  a  speaker  or  writer,  we  can 
never  be  sure  that  we  know  just  what  meaning  his  words 
are  intended  to  convey.  Some  men,  like  some  nations, 
habitually  use  great  plainness  and  bluntness  of  speech; 
they  do  not  hesitate  to  talk  of  matters  that  are  elsewhere 
never  mentioned  in  cultivated  society.  Yet  it  would  often 
be  wrong  to  draw  inferences  as  to  morality  from  these 
facts.  Plainness  of  speech  on  all  subjects  does  not  neces- 
sarily argue  in  favor  of  laxness  of  morals.  The  English- 
speaking  people  are  much  more  conventional  in  speech  and 
manners  than  those  of  Continental  Europe.  Is  it  safe  to 
say,  that,  on  the  whole,  their  public  morality  is  higher  ?  If 
we  compare  the  Turk  with  the  Englishman  as  regards  the 
use  of  intoxicants,  the  comparison  will  result  much  more 
favorably  for  the  former  than  the  latter;  but  if  we  com- 
pare them  on  the  ground  of  sexual  morality,  the  decision 
will  be  very  different.  If,  then,  we  wish  to  make  a  com- 
parative study  of  the  ethical  standards  of  two  or  more  na- 
tions,— or  of  two  individuals,  for  that  matter, — we  need  to 


56  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

define  carefully  the  various  elements  that  make  up  the 
standard.  Speaking  figuratively,  we  may  say  that  it  is  a 
compound  into  which  a  number  of  ingredients  of  necessity 
enter,  and  in  varying  quantity.  We  shall  be  more  likely  to 
attain  definite  results  if  we  make  the  comparison  along 
certain  lines,  or  follow  certain  strata,  so  far  as  this  can  be 
done  with  the  available  material.  It  is  a  matter  of  common 
experience,  that  foreigners  differ  widely  in  their  estimate 
of  the  general  character  of  a  people  among  whom  they  have 
dwelt  for  a  time.  We  sometimes  find  their  reports  diverg- 
ing so  widely  that  we  are  at  a  loss  to  understand  how 
the}'  can  refer  to  the  same  community.  The  same  thing 
often  occurs  in  the  case  of  individuals ;  and  we  are  driven, 
for  an  explanation,  to  the  extreme  fallibility  of  human 
judgment. 

As  it  is  proposed  in  the  present  article  to  make  a  brief 
study  of  Greek  ethical  standards,  we  need  here  only  to  refer 
to  a  fact  well  known  to  scholars,  that  modern  writers  upon 
this  question  have  reached  widely  different  results.  I  be- 
lieve that,  generally  speaking,  the  conclusions  of  the  mod- 
erns have  been  too  favorable.  I  believe,  further,  that  this 
is  largely  owing  to  undue  stress  laid  upon  certain  noble 
traits  exhibited  by  the  Greeks  and  an  excessive  admiration 
for  their  esthetic  qualities,  to  the  neglect  of  other  equally 
important  characteristics  in  the  make-up  of  national  char- 
acter. Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  Germans  appear  to  have 
come  widest  of  the  mark,  while  the  French  and  English 
have  exhibited  the  Greeks  more  nearly  in  their  true  light. 
Friedrich  Jacobs,  for  instance,  in  his  enthusiastic  admira- 
tion of  the  aesthetic  taste  of  this  people,  frequently  draws 
inferences  favorable  to  their  ethic  qualities  to  which  they 
are  hardly  entitled.  Schiller's  well-known  "Goetter  Greich- 
enlands"  has  contributed  not  a  little  to  shed  a  halo  over  the 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.  57 

mythology  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  No  doubt  there  are 
points  of  view  from  which  the  free-and-easy  life  of  an- 
tiquity becomes  attractive  to  us,  hemmed  in  as  we  are  by 
the  conventionalities  among  which  we  live  and  move  from 
day  to  day.  But  if  their  condition  is  studied  from  all 
sides,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  every  member  of  the  body 
politic,  the  verdict  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  less  favorable. 
The  history  of  Greece,  no  less  than  the  writings  of  her  phil- 
osophers, is  adequate  evidence  that  the  citizens  of  the 
Greek  republics  very  often  suffered  quite  as  much  from  too 
little  government,  at  least  of  a  wholesome  sort,  as  the  con- 
temporaries of  Jacobs  and  Schiller  suffered  from  too  much, 
It  is  a  well-marked  tendency  of  our  times  to  idealize  a 
social  condition  so  much  nearer  to  nature,  in  a  certain 
sense,  than  our  own,  that  makes  so  many  writers  glorify, 
and  at  times  sigh  for,  the  life  of  our  Germanic  ancestors, 
or  even  the  nomadic  life  to  the  undivided  Aryan  race.  By 
directing  our  attention  too  much  to  those  features  of  social 
life  that  contrast  favorably  with  our  own,  and  leaving  out 
of  account  the  many  disagreeable  features  that  are  an  es- 
sential part  of  the  picture,  it  is  easy  to  make  the  mistake  to 
which  I  have  just  referred. 

It  is  unwise  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  restraint  and 
civilization  move  forward  hand  in  hand.  In  the  evolution 
of  social  life,  there  is  a  constant  tendency  to  abridge  the 
liberty  of  the  individual,  for  the  good  of  the  community, 
and  in  order  to  secure  greater  freedom  for  him  as  a  member 
of  the  body  politic.  It  can  be  clearly  shown  that  what  is 
so  often  called  the  natural  state  of  man  is  a  misnomer,  and 
that  one  state  is  no  more  natural  than  another.  Our  mod- 
ern Weltschmerz,  the  desire  to  be  something  else  than  what 
TO  are  and  where  we  are,  has  led  many  a  man  to  construct 
out  of  a  figment  of  his  imagination,  a  state  of  existence  that 


58  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION.    ' 

could  never  be  found  anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  If, 
like  the  usurer  of  Horace,  of  whom  he  sings  in  his  second 
Epode,  they  were  brought  face  to  face  with  this  imaginary 
state,  they  would  probably  decide,  as  he  did,  that,  after  all, 
they  are  better  off  than  they  would  be  if  transplanted  into 
their  imaginary  paradise. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  what  we  are  to  understand 
by  ethical  conduct.  Perhaps  we  cannot  better  define  it  than 
to  say,  that  it  is  conduct  regulated  according  to  a  law  not 
made  by  ourselves  that  makes  for  righteousness.  But  a 
great  deal  depends  on  what  we  understand  by  righteous- 
ness, and  there  is  not  room  here  to  discuss  the  point.  As 
soon,  however,  as  an  individual  recognizes  such  a  law  and 
voluntarily  obeys  it,  in  contravention  of  a  narrowly  selfish 
impulse,  he  begins  to  be  an  ethical  being.  It  is  evident 
that,  until  he  admits  the  binding  force  upon  him  of  such 
a  law,  he  is  unfit  to  be  a  member  of  a  political  or  social 
body.  It  is  asserted  by  some  writers. — Muensterberg  in 
his  "Ursprung  der  Sittlichkeit"  expresses  himself  very 
positively  on  this  point, — that  the  people  which  the  Ger- 
mans call  Naturvoelker  act  wholly  without  any  ethical 
elements  in  the  motives  that  influence  their  conduct.  But 
it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  even  the  most  primitive  people 
can  exist  in  a  state  deserving  the  appellation  of  "social," 
with  feelings  towards  each  other  so  nearly  on  a  par  with 
brutes.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  be  nearer  the  truth, 
that  all  human  beings,  even  the  lowest,  perform  some  acts 
and  refrain  from  others  from  ethical  motives.  It  is  prob- 
ably more  correct  to  find  the  germs  of  ethical  conduct  in 
certain  brutes.  To  assert  anything  positively  on  either 
question  is  hazardous,  and  to  draw  inferences  from  our 
meager  knowledge  accessible  in  both  cases  is  scarcely  less 
so.  If  the  lowest  savages  are  governed  wholly  by  impulse 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.  59 

* 

and  the  desire  to  gratify  their  passions  immediately  and 
without  regard  to  the  remoter  results  of  conduct,  it  is  hard 
to  see  at  what  stage  the  germs  of  altruism  are  discoverable. 

Certain  it  is  that  the  Greeks  of  the  earliest  ages  had 
already  long  passed  the  primitive  state,  and  even  that  oc- 
cupied by  all  the  Eastern  nations,  except  the  Hebrews. 
They  were  intensely  patriotic,  in  the  sense  of  being  ar- 
dently attached  to  their  fellow-citizens,  their  ancestral  cus- 
toms, and  their  native  land.  For  these  they  were  generally 
willing  to  sacrifice  everything  they  possessed,  not  except- 
ing life  itself.  They  recognized  national,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent international,  obligations.  They  had  some  conception 
of  the  importance  of  family  life  in  the  perpetuity  of  the 
state.  They  had  a  strong  sense  of  the  dignity  of  manhood 
and  a  deep-seated  aversion  to  monarchy  in  all  its  forms. 
The  ethical  systems  of  some  of  the  Greek  philosophers  were 
far  in  advance  of  the  popular  standard,  and  approximated 
more  or  less  closely  to  that  of  the  New  Testament.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  any  believed 
in  their  system  so  thoroughly  as  to  make  its  precepts  the 
norm  for  the  regulation  of  their  own  lives.  Besides,  the 
popular  notions  as  to  the  character  of  the  gods  had  a  most 
deleterious  influence  on  private  morality, — an  influence 
from  which  even  the  noblest  philosophers  were  not  wholly 
exempt. 

The  Greeks  when  they  first  come  under  our  observa- 
tion, had  already  passed,  by  a  long  interval,  beyond  a  prim- 
itive stage  of  religious  belief.  Nevertheless,  to  them  the 
universe  was  literally  filled  with  divinities,  benevolent  or 
malevolent,  as  circumstances  might  dispose  them.  The 
most  serious  hindrance  to  any  consistent  line  of  conduct, 
in  the  popular  mind,  was  the  caprice  of  the  divinities. 
Their  good-will  was  sometimes  gained,  and  their  enmity 


60  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

often  incurred  by  the  most  trivial  acts, — acts  which  in  their 
nature  had  no  ethical  value,  but  frequently  the  contrary. 
Unlike  the  Bomans,  the  Greeks  knew  of  no  way  to  compel 
the  favor  of  the  gods.  But  even  the  most  august  and 
powerful  of  the  dwellers  on  Olympus  was  not  wholly  su- 
preme in  the  affairs  of  men  or  of  the  gods.  A  mightier 
than  he  was  blind  fate,  inscrutable  destiny,  that  was  the 
final  arbiter  in  everything. 

The  Greeks  when  they  first  come  before  us  in  the  Ho- 
meric Poems  are  already  organized  into  civic  communities. 
They  recognize  a  body  of  unwritten  laws  which  the  Ro- 
mans designated  by  mos  ma  jorum,  mos  patruus  and  other 
like  terms.  The  validity  of  these  customs  has  its  sanction 
in  the  experience  of  men  everywhere,  but  they  are  most 
scrupulously  obeyed  where  the  talent  for  political  organiza- 
tion is  most  marked.  Neither  in  politics  nor  in  ethics  were 
the  Greeks  very  firmly  attached  to  tradition,  though  this 
attachment  was  stronger  among  the  Spartans  than  else- 
where. The  willingness  to  accept  foreign  arts  and  cus- 
toms had  a  deleterious  effect  upon  their  morals;  and  it  ia 
well  established  that  some  of  their  worst  vices  were  intro- 
duced from  the  East.  They  never  exhibited  the  moral  earn- 
estness manifested  by  the  Hebrews  at  a  much  earlier 
period.  They  were  too  fond  of  having  a  "good  time"; 
too  ready  to  give  the  loose  rein  to  their  passions ;  too  willing 
to  gratify  sensual  desires.  In  consequence,  they  could  not 
be  induced  for  any  length  of  time  to  follow  the  counsels  of 
those  who  had  more  wisdom  and  political  insight  than  has 
the  average  man.  If  we  turn  aside  for  a  moment  to  com- 
pare the  moral  character  and  earnestness  of  the  ancient 
Hebrews  with  the  Greeks,  the  result  of  the  comparison  will 
be  very  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  former.  From  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  a  code  of  laws  formed  by  a  single 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.         61 

mind,  able  to  discern  intuitively  the  remote  effects  of  con- 
duct, will  always  be  superior  to  one  that  is  the  product  of 
evolution  by  an  entire  people.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
any  one  man  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  so  deeply  and 
lastingly  influenced  its  thought  as  the  patriarch  Abraham. 
Coming  forth  as  he  did  from  among  an  idolatrous  people 
to  proclaim  the  unity  and  spirituality  of  God,  his  was  a 
step  forward  and  upward  the  far-reaching  consequences  of 
which  cannot  be  over-estimated.  Judaism,  Mohammedan- 
ism and  Christianity  are  based  upon  this  thought.  The 
more  the  career  of  this  man  is  studied,  the  more  remarkable 
it  is;  inexplicable,  we  may  well  call  it,  from  the  mere  hu- 
man standpoint.  From  the  central  idea  around  which  his 
whole,  life  revolved,  his  people,  in  spite  of  their  frequent 
moral  lapses,  never  entirely  departed.  When  we  consider 
the  abominations  that  idolatry  has  always  and  everywhere 
countenanced,  the  ethical  import  of  Abraham's  life  is 
brought  into  still  greater  prominence.  Greatly  as  we  must 
admire  Socrates  for  his  wisdom,  his  keen  insight,  and  his 
moral  earnestness  along  certain  lines,  we  can  but  feel  that 
his  friendliness  toward  the  mythology  of  his  country  was 
detrimental  to  his  influence  as  a  teacher  of  morals.  It  was 
such  a  tissue  of  ridiculous  absurdities,  that  it  is  hard  to 
see  how  so  intelligent  a  man  as  he  could  have  had  any  pa- 
tience with  it.  Or,  if  he  regarded  the  popular  mythology 
in  its  true  light,  his  best  friends  have  strangely  misinter- 
preted his  attitude.  The  history  of  the  world  shows  with 
painful  distinctness,  that,  until  men  had  emancipated 
themselves  from  a  belief  in  the  plurality  of  gods,  there 
was  no  ethical  basis  possible  for  the  regulation  of  human 
conduct. 

The  Greeks  of  Homer's  age  have  often  been  compared  to 
children ;  and  not  unaptly.     But  it  should  not  be  forgotten, 


62  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

that,  while  they  exhibited  some  traits  that  we  expect  to 
find  in  children,  they  often  gave  way  to  the  basest  passions 
of  full-grown  men.  The  range  of  their  ethical  ideas  was 
more  circumscribed  than  that  of  the  moderately  well- 
trained  child  of  our  day.  The  ferocity  they  sometimes 
manifested  is  appalling.  A  typical  example  is  the  treat- 
ment of  the  dead  Hector  by  his  slayer  Achilles.  There  te 
no  shadow  of  excuse  or  justification  for  his  conduct  toward 
a  chivalrous  foe.  He  had  engaged  in  a  deadly  duel  with 
the  odds  against  him,  and  under  circumstances  that  would 
naturally  have  aroused  compassion  in  any  breast  but  that 
of  the  lowest  savage.  Yet  even  the  poet  who  relates  the 
story  of  this  harrowing  deed  has  no  word  of  condemnation 
for  the  victor  or  of  compassion  for  the  vanquished.  In 
subsequent  times  this  same  bloodthirsty  and  vindictive 
Achilles  was  regarded  by  all  the  Greeks  as  the  embodiment 
of  youthful  beauty  and  heroic  bravery.  Similar  ferocity 
is  sometimes  exhibited  under  other  circumstances,  as  in. 
the  case  of  Medea,  but  there  is  usually  more  or  less  justifi- 
cation for  it.  But  the  influence  of  the  Homeric  Poems 
upon  the  popular  mind  was  far  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  literary  production. 

It  was  an  unfortunate  circumstance  for  the  ethical  de- 
velopment of  the  Greeks,  that  their  literature  for  the  most 
part  commended  itself,  in  spite  of  its  low  moral  tone,  by 
reason  of  its  esthetic  excellence.  That  some  of  their  best 
thinkers  clearly  recognized  and  deplored  this  fact  is  well 
known.  It  is  hardly  to  be  doubted  that  the  Homeric  Poems 
retarded  the  moral  growth  of  the  Greek  nation  quite  as 
much  as  they  refined  and  elevated  and  promoted  their  lit- 
erary taste.  While  there  is  no  question,  that,  from  the 
dawn  of  philosophic  inquiry,  many  persons  began  to  out- 
grow the  anthropomorphic  ideas  they  embody,  this  intel- 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.  63 

lectual  emancipation  brought  with  it  little  or  no  profit  to 
the  cause  of  morality.  The  Greek  rationalists,  like  the 
French  freethinkers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  not  only 
lost  faith  in  a  religion  that  was  largely  supported  by  hy- 
pocrisy, but  they  also  surrendered  that  part  of  it  which 
furnished  a  support  and  sanction  for  moral  conduct.  In 
the  time  of  Aristophanes  even  the  Greek  populace  had  seem- 
ingly given  up  all  respect  for  their  gods,  or  faith  in  their 
traditional  mythology;  yet,  with  a  strange  inconsistency, 
they  feared  the  very  beings  whose  existence  they  doubted. 
Temple  robbery  and  sacrilege  were  at  all  times  regarded 
as  heinous  crimes,  and  severely  punished.  Long  after  the 
period  here  under  consideration,  Paul  found  the  Athenians 
scrupulous  observers  of  the  external  forms  of  religion,  and 
indifferent  to  its  spirit.  While  it  is  probably  true  that 
the  conduct  of  Socrates  at  his  trial  was  the  chief  cause  of 
his  death,  it  must  be  said,  to  the  eternal  disgrace  of  his 
countrymen,  that  they  were  willing  deliberately  to  enter- 
tain charges  of  the  most  ridiculous  character  against  him ; 
and  they  condemned  him  to  death  for  crimes  that  nine- 
tenths  of  the  jury  must  have  known  that  he  had  not  com- 
mitted. 

This  brings  us  to  another  reprehensible  trait  of  the 
Greeks — their  slight  regard  for  human  life.  Men  were 
put  to  death  upon  the  flimsiest  pretexts, — sometimes  singly, 
sometimes  in  large  numbers.  Socrates  tells  his  fellow- 
citizens,  that  he  would  probably  not  have  survived  many 
years  if  he  had  engaged  in  politics,  for  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  he  must  ere  long  have  fallen  a  victim  to  party  ran- 
cor. The  ferocity  with  which  their  feuds  were  often  car- 
ried on  almost  exceeds  belief.  In  every  city,  and  at  all 
times,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  large  number  of  "outs," 
who  neglected  no  opportunity  to  get  possession  of  the  gov- 


<J4  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

eminent.  Their  object  was  always  purely  selfish,  except 
in  some  rare  instances  where  self-preservation  was  the  mo- 
tive. In  these  internecine  struggles,  men  were  as  recklessly 
deprived  of  life  as  if  it  were  a  thing  of  little  value.  Ju- 
dicial proceedings  in  capital  cases  were  characterized  by 
the  same  precipitancy.  One  would  suppose  that  the  plain- 
est dictates  of  prudence  would  plead  for  leniency  toward  a 
defeated  party.  A  turn  of  the  political  wheel  might  easily 
bring  those  who  were  below  to  the  top.  and  mercy  shown 
could  be  used  as  a  valid  ground  for  asking  mercy  in  re- 
turn. But,  as  would  be  expected  of  short-sighted  children, 
the  only  question  with  the  dominant  party  was  always,  how 
to  root  out  every  particle  of  unfriendliness,  as  if  this  could 
be  done  so  effectually  that  it  could  never  raise  its  head 
again. 

The  Greeks  never  grasped  the  importance  of  law  in  the 
development  of  civic  institutions-  What  the  Germans  call 
Rechtssinn  was  almost  entirely  lacking  in  their  char- 
acter. As  if  afraid  to  trust  themselves,  they  frequently 
passed  decrees  fixing  severe  penalties  on  any  one  who  should 
propose  the  repeal  of  a  law.  The  persistence  of  this  racial 
type  is  plainly  seen  in  Greek  politics  in  our  own  day. 
Every  citizen  is  or  wants  to  be  a  politician  or  a  statesman, 
and  there  is  little  doubt  that  if  modern  Greece  were  a 
pure  republic,  the  people  would  want  to  elect  a  President 
at  least  as  often  as  once  a  month,  and  turn  out  all  the  office- 
holders in  order  to  make  room  for  a  new  set.  The  injus- 
tice this  mode  of  procedure  has  worked  from  time  immemo- 
rial need  not  here  be  dwelt  upon.  Greek  political  writers, 
beginning  with  the  earliest,  often  deplore  this  fickleness 
of  their  countrymen.  Again  and  again  they  said :  If  you 
will  cease  to  quarrel  among  yourselves,  compose  your  in- 
ternal feuds,  and  unite  in  a  common  enterprise,  you  can 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.  65 

easily  make  yourselves  masters  of  the  entire  world.  But 
such  admonitions  almost  always  fell  upon  deaf  ears  It  is 
not  remarkable,  then,  that  a  strong  foreign  power  which 
promised  to  put  an  end  to  internal  strife  should  be  wel- 
comed by  many  thinking  men  in  Greece.  It  was  the  best 
thing  attainable  under  the  circumstances.  The  Greeks 
never  grasped  the  importance  of  personal  responsibility. 
The  citizen  was  merged  in  the  city.  In  many  cases  a  body 
of  men  that  might  fitly  be  characterized  as  a  mob,  decided 
what  was  right  and  what  was  wrong  according  to  the  pas- 
sions then  prevalent  What  a  travesty  upon  justice  their 
collective  action  when  laboring  under  excitement  often  was, 
is  well  known. 

A  cardinal  moral  weakness  of  the  Greeks  was  their  readi- 
ness to  accept  bribes.  Not  only  were  many  of  them  always 
willing  to  receive  money  from  the  Persians,  but  offers 
from  their  own  countrymen  rarely  came  amiss.  It  is  true 
that  public  sentiment  was  strongly  against  such  conduct, 
but  it  was  not  strong  enough  to  make  the  business  thor- 
oughly odious.  It  seems  to  have  been  felt  that  the  loudest 
outcry  was  often  made  against  it  by  those  who  were  so  un- 
fortunate as  not  to  have  been  subjected  to  temptation. 
This  penchant  is,  in  part  at  least,  explicable  by  two  char- 
acteristics that  were  prominent  in  the  Greeks :  one  of  these 
was  the  keen  enjoyment  of  sensuous  pleasures;  the  other, 
a  decided  aversion  to  labor.  As  public  opinion  was  strongly 
against  the  citizen  who  engaged  in  money-making  enter- 
prises, other  avenues  for  getting  rich  were  readily  entered. 
The  citizen  must  not  labor;  if  he  does,  he  forfeits  the  re- 
spect of  his  fellow-men,  no  matter  how  much  his  charac- 
ter may  be  deserving  of  it.  Personal  worth  is  not  the  de- 
cisive factor  in  such  a  case.  The  state  is  the  arbiter  in  the 


66  WIQDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

matter;  and  the  state  has  decided  that  labor  is  for  the 
slave,  state-craft  and  philosophy  for  the  free  man. 

Nothing  strikes  us  as  more  remarkable  in  the  most  ad- 
vanced Greek  thought  than  its  attitude  toward  human 
slavery.  That  the  popular  mind  accepted  the  status  quo 
without  a  question  is  not  strange,  but  that  the  philosophers, 
almost  without  exception,  were  unable  to  see  that  the  "sum 
of  villanies"  must  eventually  be  abolished,  is  inexplicable. 
They  anticipated  modern  thought  in  many  directions.  In 
some  things  they  seem  even  to  have  divined  the  goal  it 
would  ultimately  reach.  But  slavery  was  to  them  so  es- 
sential a  part  of  civic  and  social  life,  that  no  thought  of  its 
ultimate  abolition  dawned  upon  the  mind  of  any  one.  The 
justification  of  slavery  by  Aristotle  and  others  reminds  one 
of  the  puerile  arguments  sometimes  heard,  in  ante  bellum 
days,  in  favor  of  letting  slaver}'  in  the  South  alone,  on  the 
ground  that  the  owners  of  slaves  had  lawfully  paid  for 
them.  When  the  Stagirite  tells  us  that  some  persons  are 
by  nature  of  a  servile  disposition,  and  fitted  only  for  a 
station  in  which  they  will  be  wholly  under  the  tutelage  of 
a  superior,  we  readily  assent;  but,  when  he  proceeds  to 
justify  slavery  on  this  account,  we  involuntarily  ask  our- 
selves, whether  he  is  in  earnest,  and  expects  to  be  taken 
seriously.  It  was  sometimes  the  misfortune  of  the  wisest 
and  noblest  to  fall  into  slavery.  As  wars  were  anciently 
carried  on,  it  could  not  be  predicated  with  certainty  of  any 
one  that  he  would  never  be  sold  as  a  slave.  The  weakest 
and  least  deserving  from  any  point  of  view, — the  women 
and  the  children — were  most  in  danger.  Their  birth  did 
not  decide  their  destiny,  though  it  might  in  some  cases 
mitigate  the  treatment  they  received.  Where  slavery  ex- 
ists, human  life  is  cheap.  It  brutalizes  men,  not  only 
toward  the  unfortunate  beings  who  are  in  their  power,  soul 
and  body,  but  also  toward  equals.  It  has  been  an  unmiti- 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.  67 

gated  curse  wherever  it  has  existed;  yet  governments  have 
clung  to  it,  and  encouraged  it,  with  a  persistence  worthy  of 
a  better  cause.  Perhaps,  after  all,  we  need  not  be  surprised 
that  no  ancient  philosopher  looked  forward  to  the  time 
when  slavery  should  be  abolished  in  every  civilized  country. 
Compare  note  on  page  42. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  all  the  Grecian  and  Eoman  cities 
there  was  a  considerable  population  debarred  from  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship,  though  to  some  extent 
under  the  protection  of  law.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
existence  of  numerous  slaves,  together  with  the  class  just 
referred  to,  had  a  most  deleterious  effect  upon  the  public 
morals.  Abundant  experience  has  proved  that  the  surest 
way  to  bring  the  state  to  its  highest  efficiency  and  its  great- 
est security,  as  well  as  to  elevate  the  tone  of  its  morals,  is 
to  grant  to  as  large  a  number  as  possible  of  those  enjoying 
the  protection  of  its  laws  a  direct  share  in  the  government. 
This  gives  to  all  a  personal  interest  in  the  internal  affairs 
of  the  state,  and  makes  every  one  more  or  less  responsible 
for  its  perpetuity.  There  is  no  way  to  ruin  a  young  man 
more  completely  than  to  make  him  feel  that,  do  what  he 
will,  he  can  never  become  of  any  importance  to  any  one, 
not  even  to  himself.  As  he  cannot  elevate  himself,  he  has 
no  interest  in  assisting  others  to  rise.  But  he  may,  and 
generally  does,  revenge  himself  and  gratify  his  social  in- 
stinct by  dragging  others  down  to  his  own  moral  leveL 
Wherever  slavery  has  existed,  human  life  has  been  cheap, 
and  public  morality  low.  That  the  latter  was  exceptionally 
so  in  ancient  Greece  becomes  more  and  more  evident  as 
one's  knowledge  of  the  subject  deepens. 

There  is  abundant  testimony  to  show  that  chastity  and 
conjugal  fidelity  on  the  part  of  men  were  neither  com- 
mended nor  practiced.  Prostitution  was  frightfully  com- 


68  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

rnon.  Married  women  were  held  to  strict  account,  lest 
they  might  debauch  the  state  by  illegitimate  offspring,  but 
there  was  no  restraint  upon  husbands,  either  in  the  laws  or 
in  public  opinion.  A  few  passages  bearing  upon  this  point 
may  properly  be  cited  here.  In  the  second  book  of  his 
Memorabilia,  Xenophon  reports  the  following  remark  as 
made  by  Socrates  to  his  son :  "And,  in  truth,  you  are  not 
to  assume  that  men  beget  children  for  the  sake  of  mere 
sensual  pleasure,  since  the  streets  as  well  as  the  brothels 
are  full  of  the  means  of  gratifying  desire."  This  state- 
ment bears  strong  testimony  to  the  prevalence  of  the  social 
evil  in  Athens  in  the  fourth  century  B.  C.,  but  it  is  also 
evidence  of  the  matter-of-fact  way  in  which  it  was  regarded 
by  men  like  Socrates.  Testimony  to  the  same  effect  is 
furnished  by  Demosthenes  in  his  harangue  against  jSTeaera 
We  quote  a  single  passage:  "We  have  mistresses  for  the 
sake  of  pleasure ;  concubines  for  the  daily  attendance  upon 
our  persons;  wives  for  the  sake  of  legitimate*  children  and 
of  having  faithful  guardians  of  our  households/'  Here 
the  orator's  "we  have'*  shows  that  he  is  speaking  of  what 
is  universally  admitted,  and  not  of  himself  alone.  He  is 
but  identifying  himself,  in  the  matter  of  sexual  morality, 
with  the  mass  of  the  citizens.  A  wife  is  not  regarded  as  a 
companion  or  an  equal,  but  as  a  creature  that  exists  solely 
in  order  that  legitimate  offspring  may  be  brought  into  the 
world.  If  one  would  realize  what  such  a  confession  im- 
plies, let  him  remember  the  public  occasion  on  which  it 
was  uttered ;  then  let  him  picture  to  himself  what  the  effect 
of  such  an  avowal  would  be  if  made  in  the  presence  of 
hundreds,  perhaps  thousands  of  men  in  our  day.  Let  him 
remember,  too,  that  we  are  not  dealing  with  the  mere  off- 
scourings of  a  great  city;  but  that  the  orator  is  standing 
in  the  presence  of  the  most  respectable  citizens,  who  had 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.  69 

met  together  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  what  a  great  orator 
would  say  on  an  important  case.  I  am  aware  that  this 
oration  is  now  generally  regarded  as  wrongly  attributed  to 
Demosthenes.  This,  however,  detracts  little  from  its  value 
as  testimony  to  the  moral  status  of  the  Athenians  in  the 
time  of  the  great  orator.  Its  importance  in  the  history  of 
Greek  morals  remains  unimpeached;  besides  it  only  cor- 
roborates testimony  of  the  same  character  found  in  other 
writings.  When  one  reads  some  of  the  Plays  of  Aristo- 
phanes for  the  first  time  he  involuntarily  asks  himself 
whether  a  condition  of  things  such  as  he  in  part  describes, 
and  in  part  assumes  to  be  well  known,  can  have  existed  in 
any  community  having  any  claim  to  be  called  civilized ;  yet 
a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  then  current  sexual  mo- 
rality of  the  Greek  cities  soon  convinces  the  student  that 
the  witty  poet  has  not  painted  his  picture  in  too  deep  colors. 
The  Epistles  cf  Paul,  written  several  centuries  later,  make 
it  painfully  evident  that  Greeks  and  Romans,  even  after 
their  conversion  to  Christianity,  were  slow  to  yield  the  lax 
moral  notions  they  had  held  while  heathen. 

Social^purity  was  a  vice  so  deeply  ingrained  in  the 
habits  of  the  people  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  eradi- 
cate it.  To  this  day  the  effort  has  been  successful  only  in  a 
very  moderate  degree.  Nothing  is  more  clear  than  that  the 
Greeks  made  light  of  such  a  command  as,  "Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery";  much  less  did  they  realize  the  high 
moral  standard  of  Christ  set  forth  in  the  words,  "Whoso- 
ever looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  already 
committed  adultery  with  her  in  his  heart."  It  is  doubtful 
whether  this  phase  of  conduct  was  ever  seriousl}*  considered 
by  any  of  their  philosophers. 

In  all  Greek  literature  there  is  no  more  typical  character 
than  Ulysses.  His  prominent  traits  are  fertility  of  re 


70  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

source,  superior  skill  in  gymnastic  exercises  and  in  the  use 
of  arms,  tenacity  of  purpose,  unscrupulousness  in  the  at- 
tainment of  ends,  fidelity  to  friends,  implacable  hostility 
to  enemies,  familiarity  with  the  sea  and  all  that  pertains 
to  it,  and  ardent  love  of  country.  But  chastity  and  con- 
jugal fidelity  are  not  in  the  list  of  his  virtues.  His  lapses 
in  this  regard  are  mentioned  by  the  poets  with  as  much 
naivete  as  if  nothing  else  was  to  be  expected.  In  striking 
contrast  to  the  way  in  which  they  speak  of  her  husband, 
is  the  praise,  expressed  or  implied,  bestowed  on  Penelope. 
She  is  represented  as  faithful  to  her  lord,  modest  in  her 
demeanor  under  all  circumstances, — in  short,  she  is  made 
a  model  of  purity.  Like  traits  under  different  circum- 
stances are  exhibited  by  Arete  and  Nausicaa.  Though  the 
position  of  women  in  the  Homeric  Poems  is  higher  and 
more  influential  than  it  was  in  most  of  the  Greek  states  in 
historical  times,  the  ethical  standard  by  which  she  was 
judged  had  changed  but  little. 

There  is  room  here  to  touch  briefly  upon  a  single  ad- 
ditional trait  of  the  Greeks:  their  extreme  vindictiveness. 
To  surpass  friends  in '  conferring  favors,  and  enemies  in 
doing  injuries,  was  a  fundamental  article  of  the  national 
creed.  This  condition  of  things  is  so  nearly  universal 
among  savages  that  it  would  call  for  no  comment,  were 
it  not  for  the  marked  superiority  of  the  Greeks  in  many  of 
the  elements  of  the  most  advanced  civilization.  Here 
again  it  is  plain  that  no  necessary  connection  exists  be- 
tween the  highest  intellectual  gifts  and  a  high  moral 
standard.  It  is  true  that  Socrates  taught  a  doctrine  dia- 
metrically opposite  to  the  universal  practice  of  his  coun- 
trymen ;  and  he  deserves  all  the  greater  credit  for  his  cour- 
age and  far-sightedness.  But  moral  earnestness  and  in- 
tellectual acuteness  had  elevated  him  to  an  ethical  plane 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS.  71 

to  which  few  of  his  countrymen  ever  attained  even  in  their 
philosophical  systems,  much  less  in  their  conduct.  It  must, 
however,  be  admitted  that  in  spite  of  the  short-comings  of 
the  Greek  people  in  both  their  public  and  private  life  most 
of  the  Greek  thinkers  had  a  profound  conviction  of  the 
moral  order  of  the  world.  Their  Weltanschauung  is  largely 
tinged  with  pessimism  because  their  countrymen  so  often 
chose  and  persisted  in  courses  that  could  lead  nowhere  but 
into  disaster.  Herodotus  somewhere  says  that  the  most 
unfortunate  situation  in  which  a  man  can  find  himself  is 
when  he  sees  calamity  approaching  and  is  unable  to  avert  it. 
Aeschylus  inquires,  "What  defence  are  riches  to  a  man 
who  insolently  spurneth  out  of  sight  the  mighty  altar- 
throne  of  Justice?"  After  enlarging  upon  this  theme  he 
cites  the  case  of  Paris  as  a  warning  example  of  a  man  who 
by  frivolous  and  unrighteous  conduct  brought  innumer- 
able woes  upon  his  family  and  his  country.  He  contends 
that  "Justice  shines  in  houses  dark  with  smoke  and  honors 
virtuous  life ;  while  gold-bespangled  seats,  where  hands  are 
filthy,  she  leaveth  with  averted  eyes,  and  unto  pious  homes 
repairs,  revering  not  the  power  of  wealth  with  spurious 
commendation  stamp'd."  "The  swift  stroke  of  Justice 
comes  down  upon  some  in  the  noonday  light ;  pain  waits  on 
others  in  the  midst  of  darkness,  and  the  gloom  of  night 
overshadows  them."  At  another  place  he  says:  "There  is 
a  voiceless  law  which  is  not  seen  by  thee  while  thou  sleepest, 
walkest  and  sittest;  which  accompanies  thee,  now  at  thy 
side,  now  behind.  For  the  darkness  of  night  does  not 
conceal  thy  evil  deeds,  but  whatsoever  crime  thou  hast 
committed,  doubt  not  some  one  has  seen  it." 

The  historians  are  equally  certain  that  wrong-doers  can 
not  escape  the  penalty  of  their  misdeeds.     There  is  room 


72  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

here  for  but  a  single  citation.  Herodotus  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  a  Spartan  the  following  anecdote : 

Three  generations  ago  a  certain  Milesian  came  to  Sparta 
to  a  citizen  of  that  place  renowned  far  and  wide  for  his 
probity,  and  left  with  him  a  valuable  deposit  of  money. 
He  also  gave  to  the  citizen,  whose  name  was  Glaucus,  cer- 
tain tallies  with  the  directions  that  the  money  was  to  be 
returned  to  the  person  who  produced  the  tallies.  Many 
years  after,  the  sons  of  the  depositor  appeared  before  Glau- 
cus and,  producing  the  tallies,  asked  to  have  the  deposit  re- 
turned. The  Spartan  now  professed  to  have  forgotten  the 
matter,  but  promised  to  do  what  was  just  in  case  he  really 
had  received  the  money,  as  the  strangers  asserted.  He 
wanted  four  months  for  reflection.  Meanwhile  he  went  to 
Delphi  to  consult  the  oracle  as  to  whether  he  might  be  per- 
mitted to  swear  that  he  had  not  received  the  money  and 
so  make  a  prize  of  it.  The  Pythoness  replied  that  he  might 
do  as  he  wished  since  death  is  equally  the  lot  of  those  who 
keep  oaths  and  of  those  who  do  not ;  but  the  Oath-god  over- 
whelms with  destruction  the  perjurers  and  preserves  those 
who  keep  their  promises.  Glaucus,  now  thoroughly  fright- 
ened, besought  pardon  of  the  Pythoness  for  his  question, 
but  she  answered  that  it  was  as  bad  to  tempt  the  god  as  to 
have  done  the  deed.  "At  the  present  time,"  adds  the  nar- 
rator, "the  family  of  Glaucus  is  extinct  in  Sparta." 
Whether  we  read  the  poets,  the  philosophers,  the  historians 
or  the  orators  we  find  the  same  clear  views  of  the  penalties 
involved  in  the  infringement  of  the  moral  law. 

The  Athenian  people  may  be  compared  to  a  woman  who 
is  endowed  with  all  the  possible  charms  of  mind  and  per- 
son,—fair  in  face,  stately  in  form,  majestic  in  carriage, 
graceful  in  movement,  bewitching  in  manner,  with  a  ge- 
nius, it  may  be,  for  poetry  or  painting  or  sculpture;  but 


ASPECTS  OF  ANCIENT  GREEK  ETHICS,  73. 

who  is  capricious,  often  utterly  unreasonable,  untrust- 
worthy, given  to  moods,  now  an  angel,  now  a  demon,  yet 
always  exhibiting  the  same  unerring  taste  and  displaying 
the  same  passionate  love  of  what  is  beautiful. 

Many  modern  writers  have  interested  themselves  in 
showing  how  the  ethical  elements  of  Christianity  were  grad- 
ually evolved  from  the  tenets  of  the  Greek  philosophers. 
One  of  the  most  instructive  recent  contributions  to  this 
question  is  the  "Logos  Spermaticos"  of  Dr.  Edward  Spiess. 
a  volume  of  more  than  five  hundred  pages  of  parallel  pas- 
sages to  the  New  Testament  from  the  writings  of  ancient 
Greeks.  The  inquiry  is  not  without  profit,  as  showing  that, 
in  the  fullness  of  time,  the  world  was  ready  for  the  teach- 
ings of  Christ,  and  that  his  appearance  was  not  out  of  har- 
mony with  social  evolirKon.  But  the  ethical  philosophy  of 
the  Greeks  lacked  some  important  principles  that  were  es- 
sential to  the  healthy  and  uninterrupted  progress  of  the 
world.  A  gradual  evolution  will  not  account  for  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  first  man,  nor  of  such  characters  as  Abra- 
ham and  Moses;  least  of  all  will  it  explain  the  coming  of 
Christ,  unless  we  mentally  supply  some  essential  factors 
for  which  we  have  as  yet  no  data.  The  weakest  part  of 
Greek  philosophy  was  its  morality,  because  it  was  tinged 
with  ethnic  characteristics ;  the  power  of  Christ's  teachings 
lies  in  their  ethical  elements  of  universal  validity. 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  MORALITY. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  thought  that  occupies  men's  minds 
more  frequently  at  the  prensent  time  than  admiration  for 
the  wonderful  age  in  which  we  live.  Nor  is  this  surprising. 
When  one  compares  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century  with  the  end  of  the  sixties,  and  examines  somewhat 
in  detail  the  inventions  and  discoveries  of  the  intervening 
period,  he  finds  himself  indeed  in  a  new  world.  In  nothing 
has  public  opinion  undergone  a  more  marked  change  than 
in  the  estimate  placed  upon  the  value  of  knowledge,  per  se. 
So  many  secrets  have  been  wrung  from  the  keeping  of  ma- 
terial nature,  and  the  information  thus  gained  has  been 
turned,  in  so  many  ways,  to  the  effective  service  of  man, 
that  the  world  seems  to  be  looking  for  its  temporal  salva- 
tion in  this  direction.  That  the  increase  of  the  public  wel- 
fare is  commensurate  with  the  advance  of  knowledge  is  an 
axiom  that  has  influenced  public  opinion  within  the  last 
few  decades  to  a  remarkable  degree. 

The  most  tangible  expression  of  this  belief  is  the  liber- 
ality shown,  both  by  states  and  individuals,  in  the  estab- 
lishment and  support  of  institutions  for  the  highest  edu- 
cation. It  is  entirely  safe  to  say  that  more  money  has  been 
donated  and  voted  for  this  purpose  during  the*  last  ten  or 

(74) 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  MORALITY.  75 

fifteen  years,  perhaps  even  during  the  last  three  or  four, 
than  during  the  entire  preceding  history  of  our  country.* 
Most  of  it  has  come  from  men,  and  by  the  votes  of  men, 
whose  scholastic  attainments  are  not  above  the  average. 
They  have  been  influenced  in  their  action  by  the  tide  of 
popular  opinion,  perhaps  far  more  than  by  their  own  in- 
clination, at  least  in  a  majority  of  instances.  But  this 
estimate  of  the  value  of  knowledge  is  not  confined  to  the 
United  States.  France  has  been  extraordinarily  liberal 
in  its  provision  for  both  elementary  and  higher  education. 
The  Republic  has  literally  covered  the  country  with  nor- 
mal schools  and  faculties  corresponding  to  some  extent  to 
German  universities.  Germany  has  for  a  long  time  been 
conspicuous  for  its  liberality  in  educational  matters. 
Strangely,  too,  the  Germans,  under  a  government  verging 
on  a  despotism,  promote  education  in  order  to  maintain 
their  political  institutions;  while  France  and  the  United 
States  are  pursuing  the  same  course,  in  order  to  strengthen 
their  free  institutions.  We  have  been  persistently  re- 
minded that  we  must  educate,  or  we  must  perish  by  our  own 
prosperity;  and  that,  unless  we  do  so,  we  shall  inevitably 
lose  the  liberties  that  have  been  handed  down  to  us  from 
our  fathers.  It  is  hard  to  see  how  anything  can  produce 
two  diametrically  opposite  effects,  and  it  may  be  profitable 
to  examine  the  foundation  upon  which  the  popular  belief 
rests. 

*According  to  the  latest  obtainable  statistics  the  sums  given 
for  educational  and  charitable  purposes  in  the  United  States  in 

1899  amounted,  in  round  numbers,  to  eighty  million  dollars.     In 

1900  the  sum  was  sixty- two  and  a  half  millions,  while  in  1901  it 
reached  a  total   of  one   hundred   and  twenty-four   millions.     Of 
this  amount  nearly  sixty-nine  millions  went  to  educational  insti- 
tutions, not  including  libraries,  museums  and  galleries. 


76  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

If  the  effect  of  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  is  to 
promote  the  highest  welfare  of  the  largest  number,  it  is 
probable  that  the  form  of  government  has  little  to  do  with 
the  problem.  But  it  will  be  profitable  to  consider,  whether 
those  periods  of  the  world  that  are  most  conspicuous  for 
intelligence  were,  on  the  whole,  the  happiest;  whether  there 
are  not  other  factors  of  the  social  organism,  such  as  na- 
tional traits,  individual  characteristics,  and  creeds,  that 
are  more  potent  for  good  than  mere  knowledge;  and 
whether,  conversely,  we  are  not  mistaken  in  assuming  that 
all  we  need  to  do  to  make  men  better  is  to  make  them  more 
intelligent.  It  is  taken  for  granted  that  to  make  men 
more  intelligent,  or  at  least  better  informed,  is  to  make 
them  more  reasonable.  Is  the  assumption  correct?  Is 
it  true  that,  as  the  majority  becomes  enlightened,  as  the 
world  judges  enlightenment,  they  will  be  more  ready  to 
help  those,  always  a  large  proportion,  of  the  population 
who  need  help  and  guidance  and  encouragement? 

One  cannot  read  attentively  the  history  of  the  ancient 
Greeks  without  feeling  all  the  time  that  many  of  them 
clearly  recognized  the  horrors  of  war,  and  the  futility  of 
engaging  in  it  with  a  view  to  gaining  any  permanent  good. 
This  is  plainly  indicated  in  their  historians,  their  philoso- 
phers, and  their  dramatic  moralists.  They  recognize, 
clearly,  too,  the  existence  of  a  rule  of  right  that  was  not 
dependent  upon  the  changing  beliefs  and  impulses  of  men. 
They  nevertheless  were  compelled  to  yield  to  public  opin- 
ion in  the  midst  of  which  they  lived,  and  Greek  civilization 
decayed  under  their  eyes  and  through  forces  against  which 
they  continually  protested.  A  modern  historian  even  goes 
so  far  as  to  say  that  the  Greeks  were  not  naturally  a  war- 
like people,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  were  almost  con- 
stantly engaged  in  war.  Even  in  the  Homeric  Poems  the 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  MORALITY.  77 

transcendent  value  of  obedience  to  law  and  the  rule  of 
right  are  clearly  recognized.  Yet  how  little  influence  did 
this  recognition  have  on  the  progress  of  events.  It  is  al- 
most literally  true  that  the  most  civilized  and  intelligent 
people  of  antiquity  went  to  their  destruction  with  their 
eyes  open.  Though  wanting  to  do  good,  evil  was  ever 
present  with  them.  It  was  impossible  to  make  head  against 
an  all-powerful  pernicious  public  opinion  that  received  its 
inspiration  not  from  reason,  but  from  sentiment. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Roman  state  was  built  up  and 
maintained  by  the  intense  feeling  of  patriotism  which  made 
its  citizens  always  act  in  the  spirit  of  the  maxim,  "My  coun- 
try, right  or  wrong.'*7  The  Romans  possessed  a  genius  for 
government  which  was  not  founded  on  intelligence,  but  on 
a  national  trait.  Passing  over  a  large  interval  of  time, 
we  find  this  genius  the  most  marked  in  the  English.  Yet. 
taken  on  a  whole,  it  will  hardly  be  claimed  that  they  have 
been  the  most  intelligent  people  of  Europe  for  the  last  three 
or  four  hundred  years.-  On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  clear 
that  the  moral  forces  have,  during  most  of  this  time,  been 
more  active  and  more  influential  in  England  than  in  any 
country  on  the  Continent. 

Though  there  is  some  apparent  injustice  in  comparing 
the  two  periods,  owing  to  the  difference  in  time,  we  are 
safe  in  saying  that  the  Reformation  in  Germany  had  much 
less  influence  on  the  morals  of  the  people  than  the  move- 
ment inaugurated  in  England  by  the  Wesleys  and  White- 
field.  In  mere  scholastic  learning  Germany  was  unques- 
tionably far  ahead  of  England  in  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  and  probably  for  a  long  time  before.  The 
same  is  true  in  a  more  marked  degree  of  France.  Yet, 
while  France  and  Germany  were  filled  with  scholars  and 
men  of  genius,  the  country  was  going  from  bad  to  worse. 


78  WISDOM  AXD  WILL  IX  EDUCATION. 

and,  so  far  as  a  regeneration  came.,  it  was  not  inspired  or 
carried  out  by  them.  In  England,  moral  and  religious 
forces  have  always  been  active  and  vigorous,  as  they  still 
are ;  on  the  Continent,  except  at  rare  intervals,  weak.  No 
matter  how  large  a  stock  of  facts  we  accumulate,  if  one  has 
no  inclination  to  use  them,  of  what  advantage  are  they? 
And,  while  England  is  doing  less  to-day  than  either  France 
or  Germany  to  promote  intelligence,  and  put  the  highest 
learning  within  reach  of  all,  we  do  not  hear  of  much 
that  is  done  to  promote  practical  morality  in  the  latter 
countries.  If  we  are  to  judge  the  situation  from  the  testi- 
mony of  Germans  and  Frenchmen,  the  moral  condition  of 
their  countrymen  is  becoming  worse  as  they  are  becoming 
more  intelligent  or  at  least  more  intellectual.  Plainly  the 
salvation  of  the  world  does  not  come  through  worldly  wis- 
dom. This  is  a  truth  confirmed  by  past  experience  and 
present  observation. 

In  view  of  the  testimony  just  cited,  the  man  who  believes 
that  "righteousness  exalteth  a  nation"  may  well  ask,  What, 
then,  shall  we  do  ?  Evidently  to  fill  the  land  with  scholars 
is  not  to  fill  it  with  men  of  character,  with  men  who  be- 
lieve in  doing  right  because  it  is  right.  If  the  more  intel- 
ligent members  of  a  community  are  truthful  and  commer- 
cially honest  because  the  practice  of  truth  and  honesty  are 
the  characteristics  of  a  gentleman,  but  take  no  interest  in 
the  weak  and  degraded,  it  is  not  hard  to  see  where  and  to 
what  such  indifference  will  lead. 

If  there  is  any  good  reason  for  the  somewhat  widely  dif- 
fused faith  in  the  efficacy  of  mere  education  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  mankind,  it  ought  to  become  strikingly  mani- 
fest in  the  growing  aversion  to  war.  Is  this  so  ?  A  recent 
writer  truthfully  says :  "If  men  forsake  the  use  of  swords 
and  spears,  it  assuredly  is  not  to  convert  them  into  plough- 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  MORALITY.  79 

shares  and  pruning  hooks,  but  to  substitute  rifled  cannon 
for  these  antique  instruments  of  slaughter,  now  found  in- 
effectively murderous.  Surely  never  was  the  aspect  of 
Europe  so  threatening  as  it  is  at  the  present  hour.  Stand- 
ing armies  of  a  vastness  hitherto  undreamed  of  confront 
one  another.  The  frontiers  of  every  country  are  embattled. 
Railways  are  converted  into  military  roads.  The  physical 
sciences  are  ransacked  for  engines  of  carnage.  The  whole 
continent  is  an  immense  parade-ground,  destined, — who 
can  say  how  soon? — to  become  a  vast  battlefield."  "'Tis 
pity,  and  pity  'tis,  'tis  true."  In  this  willingness  of  the 
nations  of  the  earth  to  engage  in  deadly  conflict  with  each 
other,  upon  a  trifling  pretext,  we  see  the  power  of  irrational 
motives  operating  destructively.  It  is  the  spirit  of  a  pack 
of  mastiffs  ready  to  fly  at  each  other's  throat  as  soon  as 
an  opportunity  is  offered.  One  does  not  need  to  have  been 
a  very  profound  student  of  history  to  know  that  when  two 
governments  wanted  to  go  to  war  with  each  other  they 
easily  found  a  reason  for  so  doing.  Most  of  these  professed 
reasons  were  flimsy  enough,  but  they  served  their  purpose. 
The  world  is  still  ready,  as  it  always  has  been,  to  applaud  a 
weak  nation  for  taking  up  arms  against  a  strong  one, 
though  the  outcome  is  plain  beforehand.  It  at  least  shows 
pluck, —  a  praiseworthy  trait,  certainly,  but  it  needs  proper 
direction. 

We  all  know  the  story  of  the  German  professor,  who, 
when  told  that  his  house  was  on  fire,  said  to  his  informant. 
"Go  tell  my  wife;  I  never  meddle  with  domestic  affairs." 
He  was  a  typical  student;  absorbed  in  some  insignificant 
matter,  he  took  no  account  of  what  was  going  on  around 
him.  In  truth,  the  people  have  never  perished  for  lack  of 
knowledge,  but  for  lack  of  the  will  to  use  it.  When  we 
see  on  what  utterly  useless  trifles  many  men  have  spent 


80  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

their  lives  merely  because  they  hoped  to  find  out  something 
never  known  before,  we  need  to  beware  of  expecting  the 
world's  salvation  to  depend  on  mere  worldly  wisdom. 
There  has  never  been  a  time  in  what  we  may  properly  call 
the  history  of  the  world  when  there  was  not  sufficient  avail- 
able knowledge  to  make  all  men  as  happy  as  they  can  ever 
expect  to  be,  if  they  had  seriously  tried  to  use  it.  John 
Howard  was  a  man  of  slender  intellectual  attainments  as 
the  world  estimates  attainments,  but  he  was  inspired  by  the 
noble  motive  to  use  what  he  knew  for  the  uplifting  of  the 
neglected  and  vile  of  his  race.  And  thousands  before  and 
after  him  have  done  the  same.  Not  many  wise  are  called, 
as  the  world  counts  wisdom ;  yet,  except  for  these,  the  pres- 
ent generation  would  be  far  worse  off  than  it  is. 

The  moral  law  is  founded  on  reason,  but  it  does  not  ap- 
peal primarily  to  the  reasoning  faculties.  To  not  more 
than  three  of  the  commands  of  the  Decalogue  is  added  a 
reason  for  disobeying  them.  They  seem  to  have  been 
framed  on  the  principle  that  men  should  obey  as  children 
are  taught  to  obey  their  parents,  in  the  full  reliance  that 
obedience  may  safely  be  trusted  to  justify  itself.  It  is  a 
maxim  well  established  by  experience  that  he  who  stops  to 
reason  when  temptation  assails  him  is  in  great  danger  of 
yielding.  The  only  safe  course  is  to  turn  resolutely  away 
from  even  the  appearance  of  evil.  We  do  not  believe  that 
those  who  know  most  are  best.  If  this  were  so,  the  pro- 
fessional men  in  every  country  would  be  models  of  upright- 
ness. There  is  much  justification  for  the  intuitive  dread 
with  which  many  parents  see  their  sons  go  to  college.  It 
often  means  a  breaking  away  from  the  old  beliefs  that  were 
the  foundations  of  morality  while  it  does  not  always  mean 
the  establishment  of  new  and  equally  secure  foundations. 
Young  people  are  often  brought  into  contact  with  their 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  MORALITY.  81 

peers  who  ridicule  the  old  faith  and  who  make  light  of  the 
time-honored  maxims  that  used  to  be  regarded  as  the  es- 
sential elements  of  an  upright  life.  Sometimes  even  teach- 
ers mock  at  the  "old-fashioned  and  outworn  creeds"  as  un- 
worthy an  age  of  science.  We  have  almost  reached  an 
intellectual  stage  where  only  those  things  are  counted 
of  value  that  are  cognizable  by  the  senses.  It  is  true  that 
some  of  the  most  pronounced  rationalists  indignantly 
spurn  the  charge  of  materialism  sometimes  brought  against 
them,  but  the  whole  trend  of  their  teachings  supports  the 
charge.  In  this  age  of  haste  and  hurry  men  are  more 
ready  to  accept  what  is  most  obvious  than  what  may  be 
deduced  by  careful  study  and  sustained  examination. 

There  has  always  been  a  movement  of  the  population  to 
the  towns,  and  from  the  towns  to  the  cities.  It  has  never 
been  more  marked  than  in  our  day.  No  one  can  be  blind 
to  the  fact  that,  where  the  population  is  most  dense,  the 
elevating  agencies  are  most  powerful;  but  it  is  equally  evi- 
dent, that  these  agencies  are -of  ten  utterly  inadequate  to 
the  demands  made  upon  them.  Yet  it  is  to-day  as  it  has 
been  alwa}rs ;  we  look  to  the  cities  as  the  centers  of  intelli- 
gence and  culture.  No  one  who  is  morally  weak  seeks  the 
city  that  he  may  be  reformed,  because  he  will  find  there 
many  intelligent  people,  many  fine  churches,  many  elo- 
quent preachers,  great  lawyers,  and  distinguished  physi- 
cians. He  will  seek  his  own  regeneration  rather  by  re- 
versing his  course,  and  going  where  these  conditions  do 
not  prevail.  It  is  a  well-established  maxim  that  cities  are 
centers  of  moral  turpitude  of  every  form;  and  it  has  al- 
ways been  so. 

The  more  one  studies  the  epistolary  writings  of  the 
New  Testament  in  the  light  of  the  conditions  under  which 
they  were  produced,  the  more  he  becomes  impressed  with 


82  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

the  marvelous  insight  into  the  needs  of  their  time  ex- 
hibited by  the  writers.  They  developed  and  applied  the 
simple  teachings  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity  in  a  man- 
ner that  cannot  fail  to  command  our  admiration.  Every 
Epistle  is  different  from  every  other,  according  as  the  cir- 
cumstances of  those  addressed  were  unlike;  yet  the  funda- 
mental theme  is  everywhere  the  same;  the  motives  to 
which  appeal  is  made,  are  the  same.  The  various  schools 
of  Greek  philosophy  had  each  essayed  in  vain  to  provide 
a  regenerative  force.  They  were  all  originally  too  intel- 
lectual, and  had  in  time  degenerated  into  mere  idle  specu- 
lation, or  into  quiescent  introspection.  So  far  as  they 
had  any  definite  aim,  it  was  to  know,  not  what  and  how 
to  do.  The  author  of  the  "Education  of  the  Greek  People" 
well  says,  "Until  the  supernatural  sense  can  recognize 
as  its  object  a  living  God,  or  Being  with  perfect  intelli- 
gence, love,  will,  supernaturally  correlated,  but  in  no 
sense  identical  with  the  spirit  of  men,  so  that  his  perfec- 
tions are  their  goal  and  not  his  being,  their  grave,  it  will 
never  be  able  to  maintain  itself  against  abstracting  reason 
or  supply  the  basis  of  moral  life."  And  again,  "The  les- 
son of  history  is,  that  of  all  the  faculties  of  the  human  soulr 
that  which  demands  the  most  careful  training  is  the  super- 
natural sense.  While  it  remains  undeveloped  all  other 
education  leads  ultimately  to  nothing.  It  was  the  failure 
to  recognize  this  that  made  Greek  education  impotent  to 
save  the  world,  and  forced  it  to  crown  itself  with  Chris- 
tianity, whose  function  is  to  train  the  supernatural  sense 
to  a  recognition  of  the  living  God  as  the  Father  of  Spirits, 
the  guardian  of  the  moral  law,  and  the  bond  of  institu- 
tional life." 

Passing  again  to  modern  times,  for  we  are  not  here  con- 
cerned with  chronological  sequence  but  with  parity  of  con- 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  MORALITY,  83 

ditions,  we  find  many  points  of  resemblance  between  west- 
ern Europe  in  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  and  the  Eoman  Empire  in  the  time  of 
Christ.  What  is  called  the  literature  of  these  periods  takes 
singularly  little  account  of  the  common  people.  They  are 
not  the  submerged  tenth,  but  the  neglected  two-thirds  or 
more.  The  classical  writers  of  these  periods  rarely  men- 
tion them,  except  to  stigmatize  their  brutality,  rail  at 
their  ignorance,  or  sneer  at  their  stupidity.  It  is  true 
there  exists  a  considerable  body  of  devotional  literature 
called  into  existence  by  the  spiritual  wants  of  those  who 
aspired  to  a  better  life,  but  these  books  rarely  found  their 
way  into  the  hands  of  the  educated,  and  certainly  did  not 
exercise  any  influence  on  them.  As  in  England,  so  in 
Germany  and  France,  there  was  always  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  population  that  were  genuinely  pious  and  sin- 
cerely desirous  to  lead  pure  and  holy  lives.  But  the  masses 
were  little,  if  at  all,  influenced  by  their  example.  Noi 
until  our  own  day  did  it  occur  to  any  one  to  write  a  His- 
tory of  the  English  People, — apparently  because  hitherto 
readers  were  only  interested  to  know  what  the  upper  class, 
those  who  were  more  or  less  concerned  in  shaping  the  po- 
litical destinies  of  the  country,  did. 

In  another  paper  I  have  given  a  quotation  from  Kidd's 
Social  Evolution,  which  puts  in  a  striking  light  the  atti- 
tude of  the  educated  classes  in  England  toward  most  of 
the  reforms  that  have  been  brought  about  in  that  country 
during  the  present  century.  The  extract  occurs  on  p.  105, 
but  deserves  to  be  read  in  this  connection. 

I  am  aware  that  he  who  undertakes  to  show  the  influ- 
ence of  motives  generally  classed  as  irrational  in  the  de- 
velopment of  society  and  to  set  forth  their  potency  for 
good  lays  himself  open  to  the  charge  of  returning  to  the 


84  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

text  on  which  the  school  of  Rousseau  preached  so  many 
powerful  sermons  in  the  last  century.  The  influence  and 
vitality  of  the  doctrines  so  forcibly  proclaimed  by  a  man 
who  was  almost  without  education  is  a  strong  tribute  to 
their  truthfulness.  In  Germany  a  man  of  different  mould, 
but  aroused  by  the  same  conditions,  was  spurred  to  action 
while  his  French  prototype  was  content  to  talk  and  write. 
The  new  doctrines  were  promulgated  at  a  time  when 
Europe  was  at  least  to  some  extent  prepared  for  them, 
though  this  preparedness  consisted  rather  in  dissatisfac- 
tion with  the  old  than  a  clear  recognition  of  the  needed 
remedy.  The  conservatism  of  the  upper  classes  had  be- 
come well-nigh  unendurable.  Their  rule  of  life  was  regu- 
lated by  the  thought  that  for  them  the  state  existed;  for 
them  government  performed  its  functions;  it  was  right 
for  them  to  exploit  the  resources  of  the  country  to  the 
fullest  extent  it  would  bear.  Almost  all  who  had  the 
courage  to  cry  out  against  the  existing  conditions  were 
proscribed ;  were  often  in  danger  of  incarceration  and  even 
of  their  lives.  That  one  man  is  as  good  as  another;  that 
all  men  are  brothers  and  bound  together  by  obligations  to 
mutual  helpfulness;  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  weak  to 
protect  the  strong,  are  not  articles  that  are  found  in  the 
creed  of  those  who  stand  foremost  in  the  ranks  of  the  in- 
telligent. It  is  Christianity,  and  Christianity  alone,  that 
has  always  insisted  on  the  supreme  importance  of  such 
teachings  to  the  welfare  of  mankind  in  the  widest  sense. 
And  it  was  just  because  the  intelligent  classes,  not  except- 
ing those  whose  calling  made  them  the  exponents  of  Chris- 
tianity, had  long  ignored  these  teachings,  that  a  protest 
arose  against  the  wretched  condition  in  which  the  poor 
were  perforce  kept,  from  so  many  of  those  who  had  no 
sympathy  with  the  prevailing  religious  creeds.  It  was  al- 


KNOWLEDGE  AND  MORALITY.  85 

truistic  feeling  breaking  through  the  crust  of  custom  that 
had  been  hardened  by  the  conservatism  of  centuries. 

This  brief  sketch  of  facts  and  inferences  is  not  intended 
as  a  protest  against  the  growing  intelligence  of  our  time. 
It  is  written  for. the  purpose  of  calling  attention  to  a 
serious  danger  into  which  we  seem  to  be  rapidly  drifting. 
Some  of  the  European  nations  are  already  on  the  verge  of 
a  precipice  over  which  the}r  may  topple  at  any  moment. 
There  are  few  things  for  which  it  is  impossible  to  find  a  rea- 
son.    The  most  atrocious  crimes  have  had  their  defenders ; 
the  most  unjust  institutions  their  apologists.     Sentiments 
and  ideas,  too,  are  often  misleading;  yet  it  is  in  obedience 
to  these  mainsprings  of  action  that  the  world  has  grown 
better.     They  are  the  prime  motors  in  human  progress. 
They  furnish  motives  to  which  all  men  in  every  progres- 
sive country  naturally  respond.     It  is  with  them  that  re- 
formers have  primarily  to  reckon;  it  is  to  them  they  must 
chiefly  look  for  support ;  against  them  it  is  impossible  to 
go  forward.     We  may  enlighten  the  head  as  much  as  we 
please,  if  we  do  not  succeed  in  filling  the  heart  with  proper 
sentiments  we  shall  not  inspire  any  one  to  activity  or  to 
self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of  others.     It  will  hardly  be  de- 
nied that  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  are  engaged 
in  research  have  no  interest  whatever  in  the  welfare  of 
mankind.     Unquestionably  the  wisest   activity  is  condi- 
tioned by  the  largest  knowledge;  but  he  who  never  acts 
until  he  is  sure  of  being  familiar  with  the  entire  situation 
will  usually  never  act  at  all.     I  know  of  no  caution  that 
the  enlightened  nations  of  the  world  need  more  at  this 
time  than  that  against  implicit  faith  in  the  doctrine  that 
a  training  of  the  senses,  pure  and  simple,  will  bring  about 
that  condition  of  society  for  which  all  good  men  labor  and 
devoutly  pray. 


REASON  AND  SENTIMENT  AS  FACTORS  IN 
SOCIAL  PROGRESS. 

It  is  generally  held  by  philologists  that  the  word  which 
in  the  Teutonic  tongues  designates  the  head  of  the  animal 
kingdom  is  closely  allied  to  a  verbal  root  whose  significa- 
tion is  "to  think."  Man  is,  therefore,  the  thinking  being 
par  excellence  in  the  realm  of  animated  nature.  Whether 
this  derivation  be  correct  or  not,  and  necessarily  without 
reference  to  it,  man  is  wont  to  assert  for  himself  the  proud 
pre-eminence  of  occupying  the  highest  place  among  the 
creatures  that  inhabit  the  earth,  and  to  claim  that  this 
position  has  been  accorded  to  him,  or  that  he  has  won  it 
for  himself,  because  he  is  alone  the  possessor  of  reason.  It 
may  be  interesting,  and  it  is  certainly  not  without  profit, 
from  the  practical  point  of  VF  w,  to  examine  to  what  exten! 
the  history  of  the  race,  so  far  as  it  is  fairly  well  authenti- 
cated, bears  out  the  common  belief  that  reason  has  been  the 
prime  factor,  the  chief  motive  power,  in  human  progress. 
Such  an  examination  will  prove  almost  beyond  a  doubt 
that  ideas,  impulses  generally  irrational,  tradition,  inter- 
ests real  or  imaginary,  and  national  traits  have  played  a 
far  larger  part  in  shaping  the  destiny  of  the  world,  and 
are  doing  so  still,  than  is  generally  believed,  A  saying  at- 

(86) 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  ^ 

tributed  to  Franklin,  that  there  would  be  no  advantage  in 
being  a  reasonable  creature  if  one  could  not  find  a  reason 
for  doing  what  he  wants  to,  pointedly  expresses  the  sub- 
ordination of  reason  to  other  motives  that  impel  men  to 
action. 

When  a  man  makes  up  his  mind  to  dp  a  thing  he  can 
generally  prove  by  a  mental  process  to  his  own  satisfaction 
that  he  ought  to  do  it.  Let  us  take  the  burning  social 
problem  of  the  day  and  see  how  far  the  influence  of  reason 
has  been  effective  in  dealing  with  it.  We  mean  the  drink 
problem.  The  advocates  of  temperance  have  nearly  all 
the  reason  on  their  side;  their  opponents  have  everything 
else,  including  the  appetites  of  those  who  drink  and  the 
avarice  of  those  who  sell.  The  intelligent  class  among  all 
European  peoples  are  on  the  side  of  temperance.  Writers 
and  speakers  are  incessantly  warning  their  countrymen 
against  the  dangers  of  alcoholism.  They  are  demonstrat- 
ing from  day  to  day  that  more  than  one  half  the  evils  that 
afflict  the  body  politic  are  due  to  drink.  They  point  to  the  un- 
contradicted  testimony  furnished  by  the  records  of  poverty, 
crime  and  wretchedness  as  evidence  of  the  reasonableness  of 
their  teaching.  Yet  how  little  has  been  accomplished,  how 
few  drunkards  have  been  reclaimed,  by  argument !  Often  the 
very  men  who  are  firmly  convinced  of  the  danger  of  med- 
dling with  strong  drink — and  who  is  not? — are  unable  to 
resist  an  appetite  when  once  strengthened  by  indulgence. 
The  inefficacy  of  reason  to  stand  against  desire  for  drink 
has  been  so  fully  demonstrated  that  it  has  largely  changed 
the  methods  by  which  the  demon  of  alcoholism  is  to  be 
combated.  Instead  of  arguments  addressed  to  reason, 
training  is  applied  for  the  formation  of  right  habits.  Pro- 
phylactic agencies  are  brought  to  bear  upon  the  child  while 
in  the  plastic  state;  and,  though  the  reasoning  powers  are 


88  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

yet  weak,  this  has  been  found  to  be  the  most  effective,  and 
indeed  the  only  generally  effective,  preventive  of  drunken- 
ness. We  have  no  desire  here  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of 
the  temperance  question,  and  have  only  touched  upon  it 
because  it  illustrates  in  a  striking  way,  and  by  examples 
.familiar  to  all,  the  subordinate  position  of  reason  in  direct- 
ing human  affairs. 

Although  the  philosopher  Schopenhauer  was  a  cynical 
critic  of  his  fellow-men,  he  often  told  the  truth  plainly  and 
pointedly.  Who  will  say  that  he  exaggerated  when  he 
wrote  the  following  ? 

"Brainless  pates  are  the  rule,  fairly  furnished  ones  the 
exception,  the  brilliantly  endowed  very  rare,  genius  a  por- 
tentum.  How  otherwise  could  we  account  for  the  fact 
that  out  of  upwards  of  eight  hundred  millions  of  existing 
human  beings,  and  after  the  chronicled  experience  of  six 
thousand  years,  so  much  should  still  remain  to  discover, 
to  think  out,  and  to  be  said?  By  far  the  greater  part  of 
humanity  are  wholly  inaccessible  to  purely  intellectual  en- 
joyments. They  are  quite  incapable  of  the  delight  that 
exists  in  ideas  as  such,  everything  standing  in  a  certain 
relation  to  their  own  individual  will,  in  other  words,  to 
themselves  and  their  own  affairs.  In  order  to  interest 
them  it  is  necessary  that  their  wills  should  be  acted  upon, 
no  matter  in  how  remote  a  degree." 

The  material  of  which  reformers  is  made  is  furnished  by 
nature  in  such  small  quantities  that  none  of  it  gets  into  the 
great  mass  of  mankind.  They  are  pretty  well  content  with 
the  world  as  it  is,  and  expend  far  more  thought  in  making 
themselves  as  comfortable  in  it  as  may  be  than  in  making 
it  better.  "We  must  take  the  world  as  it  is,"  or  "Why 
should  we  concern  ourselves  with  the  doings  of  our  neigh- 
bors so  long  as  they  do  not  interfere  with  our  own?"  has 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  $9 

always  been  the  conscious  or  unconscious  creed  of  a  large 
majority  of  the  human  race.  The  researches  of  anthropol- 
ogists and  historians  have  thus  far  failed  to  discover  any 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  human  beings  upon  earth  who 
were  intellectually  inferior  to  those  now  living.  In  so 
far  as  there  has  been  or  is  any  inferiority  it  is  quantitative 
rather  than  qualitative.  The  most  abject  race  can  be  civ- 
ilized in  a  generation  or  two  when  placed  under  proper  con- 
ditions. No  new  faculties  need  to  be  created;  it  is  only 
necessary  to  develop  those  already  existing.  Yet  human 
progress  is  a  comparatively  recent  thing.  But  faint  traces 
of  it  are  discoverable  until  the  advent  of  the  Greeks. 
Egypt  and  Babylon  appear  to  us,  at  the  other  end  of  the 
vista  of  historical  perspective,  about  as  we  find  them  two 
or  three  thousand  years  later.  This  could  hardly  have 
been  possible  if  reason  had  been  a  force  in  ancient  society. 
In  so  far  as  it  was,  it  can  only  have  been  the  reason  of  the 
modern  Turk,  who  finds  the  idea  of  progress  utterly  re- 
pugnant to  him  and  who  is  content  to  be  what  his  father 
was  before  him.  If  progress  is  founded  upon  reason,  and 
not  rather  upon  race  characteristics,  it  is  impossible  to 
explain  the  wide  differences  that  exist  among  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  globe. 

There  is  no  question  affecting  the  relation  of  man  to 
man  upon  which  the  civilized  world  is  at  present  more 
nearly  agreed  than  that  slavery  is  wrong.  So  deep-seated 
has  this  feeling  become  that  the  foremost  nations  of  our 
time  have  not  only  ceased  to  tolerate  it  .among  themselves, 
but  have  undertaken  to  extirpate  it  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  While  we  may  question  to  some  extent  the  disinter- 
estedness of  the  motives  of  some  of  those  who  engage  in  its 
suppression,  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  have  a  strong 
public  sentiment  back  of  them.  How  glaring  is  the  con- 


90  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

trast  of  public  opinion  to-day  upon  this  question  with 
that  of  antiquity !  No  intelligent  man  will  assert  that  in 
the  power  of  thought,  in  the  ability  to  reason,  the  world 
has  advanced  one  iota  in  two  thousand  years.  It  is  uni- 
versally conceded  that  no  greater  men  ever  lived  than 
Socrates,  Plato,  and  Aristotle.  These  men,  to  say  nothing 
of  many  others,  seemed  to  have  divined  by  a  sort  of  super- 
human prescience  almost  all  the  lines  of  human  progress 
for  all  time  to  come.  Yet  how  little  they  have  to  say  upon 
slavery,  except  to  recognize  it  as  an  existing  institution! 
Aristotle  even  enters  into  an  elaborate  discussion  to  show 
that  servitude  is  the  natural  state  of  a  part  of  the  human 
race.  Might  has  always  made  slaves.  Even  slaves  found 
nothing  reprehensible  in  the  practice  and  submitted  calmly 
to  their  condition,  though  they  now  and  then  rebelled 
against  oppression.  Those  who  had  themselves  been  slaves 
never  hesitated  to  enthral  others  when  by  a  turn  of  for- 
tune they  found  the  power  in  their  hands.  Not  many 
years  have  passed  since  it  was  a  common  thing  to  defend 
slavery,  and  even  the  pulpit  took  a  share  in  this  defense. 
We  were  frequently  told  that  it  was  ordained  by  God  him- 
self;  that  its  abuse  was  no  reason  for  its  abolition;  that 
it  would  be  just  as  reasonable  to  turn  all  children  over  to 
the  care  of  the  state  because  some  parents  maltreated  or 
neglected  their  offspring.  Dean  Alford,  writing  in  1864. 
expressed  his  contempt  for  the  American  people  for  several 
reasons,  and  among  others  for  their  "reckless  and  fruitless 
maintenance  of  the  most  cruel  and  unprincipled  war  in 
the  history  of  the  world/'  This  dignitary  of  the  Church 
uttered  not  only  his  own  sentiments,  but  those  of  almost 
the  entire  aristocratic  class  in  England,  to  which  the  An- 
glican Church  professes  to  belong.  How  delusive  the  prog- 
ress of  the  last  score  of  years  has  proved  the  learned  dean's 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  91 

reasoning  to  have  been!  How  few  persons  can  be  found 
to-day  who  defend  slavery !  England  itself  abolished  slav- 
-ery,  not  because  it  was  more  unreasonable  in  the  nineteenth 
century  than  in  the  eighteenth,  but  because  the  growth 
of  the  altruistic  sentiment  among  the  English  people  would 
no  longer  tolerate  it. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  in  the  last  analysis  war  is  ever 
a  reasonable  procedure.  Under  certain  conditions  a  peo- 
ple may  be  justified  in  taking  up  arms.  When  a  govern- 
ment becomes  so  tyrannical  that  its  subjects  can  endure  its 
domination  no  longer  there  is  sometimes  no  recourse  but 
rebellion.  But  not  many  of  the  wars  that  have  drenched 
the  earth  with  blood  have  been  of  this  sort.  Generally 
they  are  born  of  the  lust  of  conquest  or  of  the  desire  to 
uphold  that  peculiar  sentiment,  national  honor.  Many 
wars  have  been  undertaken  from  a  religious  motive,  and 
these  have  usually  been  the  most  relentless;  yet  the  su- 
periority of  one  religion  over  another  is  the  last  question 
that  can  reasonably  be  settled  with  the  sword.  Hardly 
different  is  the  case  when  national  honor  is  involved. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  Franco-Prussian  War.  The  French 
people  held  that  their  nation  was  insulted  in  the  person 
of  their  ambassador.  Every  intelligent  man  knew  that 
this  was  a  mere  pretext  for  engaging  in  a  conflict  that 
had  already  been  determined  upon.  Two  individuals  who 
liap'pen  to  have  a  dispute  can  usually  settle  their  differ- 
ences by  referring  them  to  a  third  party,  especially  if  force 
in  the  guise  of  law  is  behind  the  arbitrator.  It  is  gener- 
ally found  that  one  or  the  other  party  is  in  the  wrong,  or 
it  may  be  both.  In  the  nature  of  the  case  a  national  dis- 
pute might  be  decided  in  the  same  way.  But  it  is  rarely 
done.  It  must  be  decided  in  a  way  that  always  proves 
costly  to  both  parties  and  terribly  costly  to  one  of  them. 


92  WISDOM  AMD  WILL  IX  EDUCATION. 

Keason  and  experience  have  proclaimed  their  lessons,  for 
the  most  part  in  vain.  In  spite  of  our  boasted  progress 
there  is  a  painful  amount  of  truth  in  the  recent  words  of 
a  Congressman:  "Nineteen  hundred  years  have  passed 
since  the  advent  of  the  Man  of  Nazareth,  and  instead  of 
growing  nearer  and  more  near  to  the  universal  era  of  peace, 
all  the  energies,  all  the  inventive  talent,  all  the  genius  of 
the  human  mind  are  now  devoted  to  the  manufacture  and 
construction  and  suggestion  of  implements  of  war  more 
horrible,  more  fatal  in  the  power  of  execution,  than  any 
which  the  world  has  heretofore  seen."  The  intellectual 
pre-eminence  of  the  Athenian  people  is  well  known.  But 
how  did  they  use  their  intelligence?  Was  it  employed  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  one  another  ?  It  was  rather  used  to 
defend  the  institutions  to  which  they  had  fallen  heir  by  no 
effort  of  their  own.  Far  more  thought  and  labor  were  ex- 
pended in  trying  to  injure  one  another  than  in  the  work 
of  promoting  their  own  welfare  or  that  of  their  neighbors. 
Most  people  are  theoretically  in  favor  of  the  principle  of 
arbitration  and  practically  in  favor  of  it  when  it  con- 
cerns any  nation  but  their  own.  It  is  easy  to  point  out 
the  right  course  when  our  interests,  our  possessions,  or  our 
putative  honor  are  not  involved.  That  the  American  peo- 
ple are  passionately  devoted  to  enforced  arbitration  for  the 
settlement  of  international  disputes  was  clearly  proved 
by  their  attitude  toward  the  recent  controversy  between 
Great  Britain  and  Venezuela ;  that  they  were  little  disposed 
to  accept  it  for  themselves  was  shown  with  equal  clearness 
by  the  spirit  with  which  they  received  the  suggestion  for 
a  similar  mode  of  adjusting  their  differences  with  Spain. 

There  is  probably  no  sentiment  that  dwells  permanently 
in  the  human  breast,  and  is  hardly  ever  absent  from  any 
member  of  the  race,  for  which  so  little  can  be  said  on  the 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  93 

i 

ground  of  reason  as  the  love  of  early  scenes.  Tacitus 
failed  to  see  how  anyone  could  endure  to  live  in  such  a 
country  as  Germany,  unless  it  were  his  native  land.  But 
affection  for  home  and  familiar  surroundings  is  hardly 
ever  effaced,  no  matter  how  unpleasant  they  may  have 
been,  and  how  far  subsequent  prosperity  has  removed  one 
from  them.  Early  habits  leave  such  an  abiding  impress 
on  us  that  we  review  the  familiar  scenes  with  a  certain  de- 
gree of  pleasure,  even  when  this  is  not  untinged  with  sad- 
ness. The  Irish  peasant  never  forgets  the  land  of  his 
birth,  though  his  recollections  are  wholly  of  abject  poverty, 
or  squalor,  and  half -satisfied  hunger ;  and  he  is  ready  at  all 
times  to  take  up  arms  against  the  government  that  he  holds 
responsible  for  his  woes.  The  German  seeks  to  transplant 
his  native  customs  to  every  land  that  hospitably  receives 
him,  and  to  make  his  new  home  in  many  respects  as  much 
like  the  land  of  his  birth  as  he  can.  The  Scandinavian 
from  the  Far  North,  a  land  almost  unendurable  to  those 
accustomed  to  warmer  regions,  is  never  so  happy  as  when 
he  is  permitted  to  return  to  his  early  haunts  and  to  live 
over  again  the  familiar  scenes  of  his  youth.  There  is  no 
explanation  of  this  curious  psychological  fact  except  that 
we  feel  a  certain  pleasure  in  doing  over  again  that  to  which 
we  have  been  accustomed,  though  at  first  it  may  have  been 
unpleasant  and  even  painful.  Men  are  prone  to  run  in 
grooves.  It  is  hard  to  get  those  who  have  not  been  trained 
for  it  to  do  some  new  thing,  to  entertain  new  thoughts,  to 
strike  out  new  paths.  Much  ^asier  is  it  to  accept  a  tradi- 
tion than  to  examine  its  trustworthiness.  There  is  no 
harder  work  than  thinking;  and  it  is  a  kind  of  labor  to 
which  the  common  man  is  much  averse.  No  wonder  that  he 
finds  pleasure  in  doing  and  believing  what  has  become  fa- 
miliar and  easv.  No  wonder  that  earlv  habits  and  beliefs 


94  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

have  such  powerful  hold  on  most  of  mankind  that  they 
are  ready  to  fight  and  even  lay  down  their  lives  to  pre- 
serve them.  And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  influence  of 
chivalry  upon  the  history  of  the  world,  using  the  term  in 
an  ethical  rather  than  an  historical  sense  ?  It  is  almost  the 
sole  secular  motive  that  lights  up  the  dark  wilderness  of 
mediaeval  history.  "Order.,  veracity,  loyalty,  self-sacrifice, 
and  mildness  of  manners,  the  protection  of  the  weak  and 
the  innocent,  and  the  punishment  of  wrong"  were  the  mo- 
tives that  gave  it  birth  and  nourished  it  into  full-grown 
maturity. 

From  the  mythical  age  of  Haemon  and  Antigone  to  the 
day  of  the  contemporary  novelist  and  poet,  affection  be- 
tween persons  of  the  opposite  sex  has  been  a  powerful  in- 
centive to  human  action.  The  fact  that  it  plays  so  large 
a  part  in  the  literature  of  fiction  is  but  the  proof  that  the 
shadow  furnishes  of  a  substance  not  far  away.  What 
deeds  of  prowess  and  daring  has  it  not  inspired  and  car- 
ried to  successful  issue!  It  is  true  that  its  reign  has  not 
been  one  of  unmixed  good.  From  the  courts  of  emperor? 
and  kings  to  the  home  of  the  peasant  it  has  exerted  its 
baleful  or  benevolent  influence.  We  are  not  here  con- 
cerned witli  the  purity  of  the  motive,  but  with  its  strength. 
No  one  who  takes  time  to  reflect  can  doubt  that  the  devo- 
tion of  the  lover  to  his  lady,  or  of  the  lady  to  her  lord,  has 
been  one  of  the  most  powerful  factors  in  the  development 
of  the  race.  Whether  it  has  been  the  ephemeral  passion 
whose  fierce  flames  burned  7!mt  the  fuel  upon  which  it  fed 
in  the  brief  space  of  a  day  or  the  conjugal  fidelity  as  abid- 
ing as  life  itself,  its  potency  none  will  dispute.  Often  the 
source  of  its  inspiration,  as  in  the  case  of  Lady  Macbeth, 
was  demoniacal  rather  than  divine ;  its  potency  was  none  the 
less  the  arbiter  of  the  destinies  of  nations  and  individuals.. 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  95 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  a  mother's  love?  By  the  al- 
most unanimous  consensus  of  enlightened  mankind  there 
is  no  emotion  of  the  human  breast  that  partakes  more 
largely  of  the  divine  than  the  love  of  a  mother  for  her 
child.  Irving  well  portrays  it  in  the  following  language: 
"There  is  an  enduring  tenderness  in  the  love  of  a  mother 
to  a  son  that  transcends  all  the  other  affections  of  the 
heart.  It  is  neither  to  be  chilled  by  selfishness,  nor  daunt- 
ed by  danger,  nor  weakened  by  worthlessness,  nor  stifled 
by  ingratitude.  She  will  sacrifice  every  comfort  to  his 
convenience;  she  will  surrender  every  pleasure  to  his  en- 
joyment; she  will  glory  in  his  fame  and  exult  in  his  pros- 
perity ;  and  if  adversity  overtake  him,  he  will  be  the  dearer 
to  her  by  misfortune ;  and  if  disgrace  settle  upon  his  name, 
she  will  still  love  and  cherish  him;  and  if  all  the  world 
beside  cast  him  off,  she  will  be  all  the  world  to  him.  It 
is  never  exhausted ;  it  never  changes,  it  never  tires."  Can 
any  one  say  that  this  undiscriminating  affection  has  done 
more  good  than  harm?  How  few  mothers  there  are  who 
will  recognize  the  stern  demands  of  justice  when  their  chil- 
dren are  concerned  ?  Who  is  there  that  has  had  to  do  with 
the  instruction  of  the  young  that  has  not  been  reminded 
over  and  over  again  how  hard  it  is  to  convince  a  mother 
that  her  child  is  in  the  wrong  even  when  the  denial  puts 
everybody  else  in  the  wrong?  If  mothers  had  their  way 
few  malefactors  would  be  punished  and  none  executed.  It 
is  true,  not  all  mothers  are  blind  to  the  faults  of  their  own 
children  and  lynx-eyed  to  the  short-comings  of  others;  but 
those  whose  judgment  in  such  matters  is  not  overborne  by 
their  emotions  are  greatly  in  the  minority.  While  it  is 
true  that  fathers  are  not  impeccable  there  is  a  considerable 
measure  of  truth  in  the  words  of  Seneca : 


96  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

"Do  you  not  see  how  differently  fathers  and  mothers 
show  their  love  for  their  children  ?  The  former  want  their 
sons  to  be  roused  early  in  order  that  they  may  betake  them- 
selves to  their  studies;  their  vacations  even  they  would 
not  have  them  pass  in  idleness,  and  they  even  draw  sweat 
and  sometimes  tears  from  the  youths;  but  mothers  want 
to  fondle  them  on  their  bosom,  keep  them  in  the  shade; 
they  would  never  have  them  weep,  never  be  sad,  never 
undergo  toil." 

Perhaps  no  fact  in  what  we  may  call  ethnological  psy- 
chology is  more  potent  than  the  constitutional  inability  of 
any  nation  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  itself.  And  it  some- 
times seems  as  if  this  weakness  increased,  if  such  an  ex- 
pression be  admissible,  with  the  rank  and  intelligence  of 
those  who  exhibit  it.  No  reader,  except  a  native,  will 
rely  upon  the  history  of  any  country  written  by  a  native 
historian.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  wherever  there  is  in 
the  narrative  an  opportunity  for  the  display  of  national 
bias  we  are  sure  to  find  it.*  That  France  marches  at  the 

*It  is  refreshing  to  find  occasionally  a  writer  who  openly  ad- 
raits  the  truth  even  at  the  risk  of  being  charged  with  the  lack  of 
patriotism.  From  a  book  published  in  Madrid  in  1900,  entitled 
"Education  in  the  Twentieth  Century,"  I  take  the  following  con- 
fession of  the  author:  "In  foreign  countries  no  one  takes  any 
account  of  us ;  we  exist  as  if  we  did  not  exist.  No  important  pub- 
lication pays  any  attention  to  education  in  Spain.  No  statistician 
takes  note  of  us  or  mentions  our  name.  Now  and  then  a  French 
publicist  devotes  to  us  a  brief  article  in  which  he  either  treats 
us  with  a  certain  consideration,  whereupon  we  reproduce  it  and 
think  over  it;  or  he  treats  us  with  a  contempt  which  we  do  not 
resent."  Is  this  backwardness  of  Spain  due  to  national  traits  or 
to  her  comparative  isolation?  That  the  latter  factor  is  important 
is  proven  by  the  relative  prosperity  of  those  portions  nearest  to 
France. 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  97 

head  of  civilization  is  an  assertion  one  would  endeavor  in 
vain  to  refute  in  debate  with  a  Frenchman.  In  their  opin- 
ion they  have  never  had  occasion  to  go  abroad  for  any- 
thing that  was  desirable.  Yet  it  is  an  accepted  fact  that 
the  French  people  know  less  of  other  countries  than  almost 
any  others  of  Europe.  Another  typical  case  is  afforded  by 
recent  histories  of  Germany.  The  success  of  the  Germans 
in  the  Franco-Prussian  war  has  turned  the  heads  of  al- 
most the  entire  people;  and  the  German  historians  fre- 
quently talk  of  their  fellow-countrymen  as  if  they  be- 
longed to  some  higher  order  of  beings  and  had  always  so 
belonged.  This,  too,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  German 
literature,  from  the  close  of  the  Eeformation  almost  to 
the  time  of  the  French  Revolution,  is  hardly  more  than 
a  blank ;  while  for  a  still  longer  period  the  German  people, 
oppressed  at  home  and  despised  abroad,  were  of  no  political 
consequence  whatever.  Difficult  is  it  to  get  material  for 
self-glorification  out  of  German  history.  But  national 
prejudice  has  abundantly  demonstrated  its  power  to  oc- 
complish  this  feat.  As  few  persons  have  access  to  original 
records,  the  great  majority  see  facts  only  at  long  range 
and  through  the  distorted  medium  of  national  vanity  or 
prejudice,  or  both,  with  results  that  may  be  and  often  have 
been  painful  enough.  It  is  sad  indeed  that  so  few  persons 
can  be  led  to  see  that  truth  alone  makes  free.  Zeus  is  rep- 
resented in  a  passage  of  the  "Odyssey"  as  saying:  "Lo, 
how  men  blame  the  gods !  From  us,  they  say,  spring  trou- 
bles. Yet  of  their  own  perversity,  beyond  what  is  their 
due,  they  meet  with  sorrow."  It  is  evident  that  Homer's 
chief  god  was  a  careful  observer.  His  sagacious  remarks 
were  not  only  history,  but  prophecy  also. 

In  one  of  his  lectures  Professor  Giesebrecht  used  the  fol- 
lowing language:    "The  sovereignty  belongs  to  Germany 


98  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

because  the  Germans  are  an  elite  nation,  a  noble  race ;  and 
for  the  same  reason  it  ought  to  exercise  such  an  influence 
on  its  neighbors  as  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  every  man 
endowed  with  superior  intelligence  and  force  to  exert  upon 
those  individuals  less  highly  endowed  about  him."  How 
an  honest  man  who  knows  the  history  of  Germany  can 
give  utterance  to  such  sentiments  is  incredible.  Sometimes 
poor  mortals  who  have  lost  their  reason  imagine  themselves 
to  be  God.  Such  persons  are  usually  confined  in  asylums, 
where  they  can  harm  neither  themselves  nor  others.  But 
in  Germany  we  find  men  in  professors'  chairs  and  even 
wearing  titles  of  nobility,  telling  their  countrymen  that  they 
belong  to  a  race  of  demigods,  the  speakers  included,  and 
are  charged  with  the  mission  of  enlightening  their  neigh- 
bors. This  would  be  amusing  if  there  were  not  always 
danger  that  it  would  lead  to  grave  consequences.  Yet  it 
would  be  well  for  the  world  if  this  species  of  mental  aberra- 
tion were  confined  to  one  country.  Let  us  at  least  give 
the  German  professor  credit  for  sanity  in  the  moral  he 
draws. 

In  France  the  case  is  not  greatly  otherwise.  Gallic 
pride  has  been  terribly  humiliated.  Yet  in  reason  what 
ought  it  to  matter  to  the  French  or  to  the  people  of  Alsace- 
Lorraine  who  governs  them,  provided  they  are  well  gov- 
erned and  permitted  to  possess  their  property  in  peace  ? 
The  attachment  of  the  latter  to  France  is  all  the  more  ridic- 
ulous for  the  reason  that  they  are  radically  German. 
Here,  again,  we  see  the  inability  of  reason  to  make  prog- 
ress against  a  mere  sentiment.  Many  a  brave  Frenchman 
has  laid  down  his  life  for  the  delusive  phantom  la  gloire; 
and  to  what  purpose?  Taine,  speaking  only  of  the  Na- 
poleonic era,  says: 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.          9*) 

"According  to  him  (Napoleon)  man  is  held  through  his 
egotistic  passions,  fear,  cupidity,  sensuality,  self-esteem, 
and  emulation;  these  are  the  mainsprings  when  he  is  not 
under  excitement,  when  he  reasons.  Moreover,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  turn  the  brain  of  man,  for  he  is  imaginative, 
credulous,  and  subject  to  being  carried  away;  stimulate 
his  pride  or  vanity,  provide  him  with  an  extreme  and  false 
opinion  of  himself  and  his  fellow-men,  and  you  can  start 
him  off  head  downward  whenever  you  please."  The  re- 
sults of  proceeding  upon  this  policy  are  thus  summed  up 
by  the  learned  writer: 

"Between  1804  and  1815  he  has  slaughtered  more  than 
1,700,000  men  born  within  the  ancient  boundaries  of 
France,  to  which  must  be  added  probably  2,000,000  of  men 
born  out  of  these  limits,  and  all  for  him,  under  the  titles 
of  allies,  or  slain  on  his  account,  under  the  title  of  enemies. 
All  that  the  poor,  enthusiastic,  and  credulous  Gauls  have 
gained  by  confiding  their  public  welfare  to  him  is  two  in- 
vasions ;  all  that  he  bequeaths  to  them  as  a  reward  for  their 
devotion,  after  this  prodigious  waste  of  their  blood  and 
the  blood  of  others,  is  a  France  shorn  of  fifteen  depart- 
ments acquired  by  the  republic,  deprived  of  Savoy,  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  of  Belgium— losing  4,000,000  of 
new  Frenchmen  which  it  had  assimilated  after  many  years 
of  life  in  common,  and,  worse  still,  thrown  back  within  the 
frontiers  of  1789,  alone  diminished  in  the  midst  of  its  ag- 
grandized neighbors,  suspected  by  all  Europe,  and  lastingly 
surrounded  by  a  threatening  circle  of  distrust  and  rancor.'* 

A  few  years  before,  the  French  people,  for  an  idea  which 
they  expressed  in  the  trinitarian  formula,  "Liberty,  equal- 
ity, fraternity,"  destroyed  every  man  and  every  institution 
that  seemed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  a  practical  realization 
of  the  creed  it  embodied.  Yet  hardly  a  decade  had  passed 


100  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

before  they  were  ready  to  follow  implicitly  the  most  uncom- 
promising tyrant  that  ever  deluded  a  people.  The  desire 
to  be  free  from  oppression  is  eminently  reasonable;  but 
what  can  we  say  of  a  people  who  had  just  broken  the  yoke 
of  bondage  that  had  so  long  and  heavily  lain  upon  their 
own  necks  trying  to  fasten  a  new  one  upon  their  neighbors 
as  well  as  upon  themselves?  No  wonder  Napoleon  had  a 
poor  opinion  of  men  when  he  saw  how  easily  they  could  be 
led  en  masse  into  crime  and  misery. 

During  the  past  few  years  we  have  heard  much  about  the 
so-called  Monroe  Doctrine.  In  definition  it  apparently 
amounts  to  about  this :  when  any  government  administered 
in  Europe  interferes  in  the  affairs  of  any  country  on  the 
Western  hemisphere,  except  in  case  of  its  own  possessions. 
the  people  of  the  United  States  are  to  regard  such  interfer- 
ence as  a  direct  menace  against  them.  Yet  the  territory  vir- 
tually owned  by  Great  Britain  on  the  Western  continent,  to 
say  nothing  of  other  European  governments,  is  probably 
equal  in  extent  to  the  Union,  and  England  may  therefore 
reasonably  be  supposed  to  have  an  equal  interest  here  with 
ourselves.  Nor  is  there  any  doubt  that  most  of  the  Span- 
ish-American States,  if  they  were  administered  by  an  en- 
lightened people  like  the  English,  in  spite  of  their  short- 
comings, would  enjoy  peace  and  prosperity  such  as  they 
have  never  known.  We  have  assumed  that  the  attitude  of 
a  monarchy  towards  a  republic  is  always  that  of  an  op- 
pressor, without  inquiring  into  the  facts  of  the  case. 
Again,  there  has  for  a  long  time  been  a  feeling  of  sym- 
pathy for  the  Cubans  in  their  desire  to  free  themselves 
from  the  heavy  yoke  of  Spain.  There  is  not  much  doubt 
that  this  feeling  was  strongest  in  those  States  that  fifty 
years  ago  led  the  Union  into  an  unjust  war  with  Mexico 
for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  territory  with  a  view  to  the 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS. ; 


extension  of  slavery,  and  a  few  years  later  plunged  the 
whole  country  into  a  civil  war,  largely  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  the  shackles  of  bondage  on  several  millions  of  hu- 
man beings — a  far  worse  condition  than  that  of  the  Cu- 
bans under  the  government  of  Spain,  except  possibly  when 
in  a  state  of  actual  insurrection.  A  story  is  told  of  a 
Russian  countess  who  wept  over  the  misfortunes  of  an  im- 
aginary hero  as  she  beheld  them  portrayed  on  the  stage 
while  her  coachman  was  freezing  to  death  at  his  post  on 
her  carriage  outside.  How  many  of  us  can  say  that  we 
have  never  been  guilty  of  a  similar  if  less  shocking  incon- 
sistency? Sometimes  that  which  transpires  immediately 
under  our  eyes  moves  us  most  strongly ;  at  others  that  which 
is  more  or  less  remote  appeals  most  vividly  to  our  imagina- 
tion. He  who  gives  a  dole  or  a  dinner  to  a  beggar  or  a 
tramp  often  does  him  and  the  community  more  harm  than 
good ;  but  it  is  so  much  easier  to  yield  to  the  paroxysm  of 
sympathy  aroused  by  a  personal  appeal  than  to  try  to  in- 
telligently to  remove  the  conditions  that  make  tramps 
and  beggars. 

The  fundamental  activity  of  the  soldier  is  expressed  by 
the  lines, 

"Theirs  not  to  make  reply, 

Theirs  not  to  reason  why, 

Theirs  but  to  do  and  die." 

The  soldier  is  not  to  inquire  for  a  reason ;  he  has  but  to 
do  what  he  is  ordered  to  do.  He  is  usually  a  young  man ; 
not  so  young  that  his  reasoning  powers  are  undeveloped » 
but  yet  so  young  that  his  energy  is  prone  to  find  expression 
in  action  rather  than  in  deliberation.  War  needs  not  only 
men  who  are  physically  strong,  but  men  who  can  be  de- 
pended upon  to  subordinate  their  reasoning  powers  to  the 


WILL  /#  EDUCATION. 


word  of  command.  Whether  the  command  be  a  reasonable 
one  does  not  enter  into  the  problem.  The  best  soldier 
is  not  he  who  looks  at  war  in  a  large  way,  and  who  is 
capable  of  understanding  the  cause  for  which  he  is  to  lay 
down  his  life  ;  but  it  is  he  who  is  best  able  to  use  the  means 
within  his  reach  to  accomplish  the  ends  placed  before  him 
by  those  in  authority  over  him.  It  is  a  question  whether 
intelligence  is  so  important  a  factor  as  is  generally  believed. 
No  country  has  been  so  uniformly  successful  in  war  as 
Russia,  because  no  armies  fight  more  bravely  than  the  Rus- 
sian. The  Russian  peasant,  grossly  ignorant  as  he  has 
always  been  and  is,  never  hesitates  to  lay  down  his  life  for 
his  emperor,  if  the  latter  wills  it.  Apparently  he  has  never 
concerned  himself  about  the  reason  why.  Yet  what  aston- 
ishing results  have  rewarded  his  prowess  !  While  he  can- 
not frame  into  words  the  Horatian  dictum,  "Dulce  et  de- 
corum est  pro  patria  mori."  he  does  more  —  he  is  the  living 
exponent  of  it.  Public  sentiment  finds  ten  heroes  on  the 
battlefield  to  one  in  civil  life.  That  foolhardy  bravery  is 
often  displayed  and  life  lost  in  unwise  and  foolish  conflict 
makes  little  difference.  The  world  is  interested  directly  in 
the  act,  and  looks  no  farther.  Physical  courage  is  still 
rated  far  higher  than  moral  courage  ;  if  it  were  not  so  the 
world  would  to-day  present  a  very  different  aspect  from 
that  which  we  see. 

From  the  consideration  of  mere  personal  bravery  the 
transition  is  easy  to  the  contemplation  of  patriotism.  Here 
is  a  sentiment  that  is  as  'versal  as  man  himself.  Every 
man,  no  matter  how  low  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  feels  a 
certain  degree  of  affection  for  the  land  of  his  birth;  it  is 
an  affection  akin  to  that  which  he  feels  for  himself.  But 
patriotism  is  an  idea  that,  per  sc,  will  not  for  a  moment 
stand  the  test  of  reason.  The  patriot  is  not  necessarily  wiser 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  103 

than  the  man  whose  motto  is,  "Ubi  bene,  ibi  patria."  The 
Fuegian  loves  his  country  just  as  fervently  as  the  most  en- 
lightened European.  If  the  former  were  compelled  to 
change  place  with  the  latter  both  would  be  equally  unhappy. 
The  one  would  protest  as  loudly  against  the  efforts  to  ele- 
vate him  as  the  latter  to  degrade  him. 

Patriotism  is  not  necessarily  unreasonable,  but  it  is  al- 
ways unreasoning.  A  man  may  be  able  to  give  a  good  ac- 
count for  the  faith  that  is  in  him,  and  he  may  not.  Lessing 
wrote,  "Of  love  of  country  I  have  no  conception ;  it  appears 
to  me  but  a  heroic  weakness  which  I  am  glad  to  be  with- 
out/"' Goethe  was  frequently  blamed  for  his  lack  of  patriot- 
ism. And,  in  truth,  there  is  little  in  his  writings  that  ex- 
hibits a  distinctive  German  feeling,  and  there  was  equally 
little  in  his  life.  Plato,  a  coryphaeus  among  philosophers, 
is  singularly  free  from  national  bias.  When  the  historian 
Polybius  made  a  stud}^  of  the  history  of  Rome,  he  found 
that  its  steady  growth  was  not  an  accident.  Though  a  for- 
eigner he  could  see  that  its  government  was  stable  from  the 
absence  of  the  forces  that  made  the  government  of  his  own 
people  unstable.  The  Romans  had  instinctively  put  into  ef- 
fect those  principles  which  the  Greek  philosophers  had  for 
centuries  preached  in  vain  to  their  own  countrymen.  The 
Romans  were  no  philosophers,  and  despised  philosophy.  But 
they  had  the  instinct  of  government,  and  rarely  followed 
this  instinct  to  their  own  detriment.  Practical  wisdom 
does  not  come  through  knowledge,  often  not  even  through 
experience.  It  may  serve  men  who  think,  but  this  class  is 
generally  too  small  to  make  its  impress  permanently  felt  in 
the  growth  of  states.  Frederic  the  Great  is  reported  to 
have  said  that  if  he  wanted  to  ruin  one  of  his  fairest  prov- 
inces he  need  only  to  place  it  under  the  government  of  the 
philosophers.  Akin  to  this  is  his  remark  that  "one  pinch 


104  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

of  common  sense  is  worth  a  university  full  of  learning." 
Though  a  man  of  exceptionally  keen  penetration  he  did  not 
always  see  to  the  bottom  of  things.  And  so  here.  He  mistook 
the  appearance  for  the  reality.  He  mistook  for  philosophers 
the  pedants  of  whom  his  country  was  full,  men  who  spent 
their  lives  in  delving  among  musty  tomes  filled  with  the 
lore  of  the  past  or  in  disputing  about  philological,  metaphy- 
sical and  theological  subtilties  without  once  looking  up  to 
take  note  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  world  around  them. 
Who  was  it  if  not  the  real  philosophers  that  formulated  the 
admirable  system  of  instruction  that  has  been  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  the  model  for  every  progressive  nation  ?  While 
Germany's  thinkers  have  borne  a  leading  part  even  her 
dreamers  have  done  something.  The  investigator  may  by 
accident  discover  some  important  law  in  the  physical  uni- 
verse, but  it  is  the  philosopher  only  who  can  interpret  its 
bearings  and  potency. 

Plato  thought  that  unless  philosophers  became  kings  or 
kings  philosophers  there  would  be  no  cessation  of  evils 
among  men.  This  is  doubtless  true,  but  true  only  on 
the  assumption  that  philosophers  are  genuine  lovers  of 
wisdom  and  not  mere  devotees  of  their  own  theories  and 
prejudices.  Of  the  latter  there  are  a  score  for  every  one  of 
the  former. 

It  seems  almost  like  a  law  of  nature  that  the  different 
peoples  of  the  earth  should  have  an  antipathy  toward  each 
other.  This  is  particularly  true  where  and  when  national 
prejudices  are  strengthened  by  real  or  supposed  national  in- 
terests. But  even  among  men  of  the  same  nationality  who 
are  reputed  equally  wise  there  are  often  the  bitterest  ani- 
mosities. Truth,  for  most  persons,  is  not  an  abstraction. 
Those  who  are  engaged  in  the  search  for  what  they  believe 
to  be  the  truth  are  men  with  passions  like  ordinary  mortals 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  105 

and  often  as  likely  to  be  blinded  by  them  or  at  least  to  allow 
their  intellectual  vision  to  be  obscured  by  them.  Here  then 
we  find  the  same  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what  is  reason- 
able, sentiment  again  overmastering  reason.  Reason  is  arti- 
ficial, deliberate,  skeptical.  Its  function  in  human  affairs 
is  to  regulate  and  control,  not  to  supply  "idea-forces."  It 
decides  how  to  do  rather  than  what  to  do.  Only  in  a  re- 
stricted sense  can  it  be  said  that  intelligence  rules  the  world. 
We  believe  the  author  of  Social  Evolution  has  stated  a 
truth  of  far  wider  application  than  he  makes  of  it  when  he 
says: 

"It  has  to  be  confessed  that  in  England  during  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  educated  classes,  in  almost  all  the  great 
political  changes  that  have  been  effected,  have  taken  the  side 
of  the  party  afterward  admitted  to  have  been  in  the  wrong, 
they  have  almost  invariably  opposed  at  the  time  the  meas- 
ures they  have  subsequently  come  to  defend  and  justify. 
This  is  to  be  noticed  alike  of  measures  which  have  extended 
education,  which  have  emancipated  trade,  which  have  ex- 
tended the  franchise.  The  educated  classes  have  even,  it 
must  be  confessed,  opposed  measures  which  have  tended  to 
secure  religious  freedom  and  to  abolish  slavery.  The  mo- 
tive force  behind  the  long  list  of  progressive  measures  car- 
ried during  this  period  has  in  scarcely  any  appreciable 
measure  come  from  the  educated  classes ;  it  has  come  almost 
exclusively  from  the  middle  and  lower  classes,  who  have  in 
turn  acted,  not  under  the  stimulus  of  intellectual  motives, 
but  under  the  influence  of  altruistic  feelings."  Let  us  at 
least  credit  them  with  seeing  and  admitting  their  errors. 

Progress  needs  a  motive  force,  and  this  reason  does  not 
provide.  The  most  powerful  emotion  that  moves  men  par- 
takes more  or  less  of  a  religious  character.  It  is  every- 
where in  the  foreground  in  the  Babylonian  and  Assyrian 


106  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

wars.  It  played  an  important  part  in  the  struggle  of 
Greek  with  Greek,  or  of  Greek  with  barbarian.  A  Roman 
army  was  invincible  only  when  it  was  confident  that  it 
went  into  battle  with  the  favor  of  the  gods.  The  religious 
idea  carried  the  victorious  armies  of  the  Saracens  over  a 
large  portion  of  the  known  earth  in  an  incredibly  short 
time.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enumerate  any  further ;  every- 
one can  recall  the  course  of  events  for  himself.  Christian- 
ity does  not  appeal  primarily  to  the  reason.  Its  Founder 
taught  "as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes." 
His  precepts  are  not  usually  supported  by  what  men  call 
reasons,  nor  are  they  arrived  at  by  processes  of  ratiocina- 
tion. Their  truth  is  intended  to  be  spiritually  apprehend- 
ed, not  to  be  worked  out  by  the  rules  of  logic.  They  are 
intended  for  those  who  can  feel,  as  well  as  for  those  who 
can  reason.  And  how  large  the  preponderance  of  the  for- 
mer over  the  latter ! 

If  I  have  read  the  history  of  philosophy  aright  it  takes 
singularly  little  interest  in  the  emotional  nature  of  man. 
The  ancients,  indeed,  make  a  great  account  of  the  pas- 
sions, but  they  generally  regard  them  as  a  sort  of  disturb- 
ing element  in  the  economy  of  society.  Modern  philoso- 
phy, beginning  with  Descartes  and  ending  with  Kant, 
seems  to  regard  man's  emotional  nature  as  a  matter  of 
little  consequence;  as  a  sort  of  penumbra  of  the  reasoning 
powers.  With  the  advent  of  Rousseau  a  different  state  of 
Mfi'airs  began  to  prevail.  Rousseau  himself  was  not  much 
of  a  philosopher,  because  he  lacked  system  in  everything 
lie  did.  But  he  was  full  of  fruitful  ideas,  ajid  he  came  at 
a  time  when  the  world  was  ready  to  listen  to  what  he  had 
to  say.  In  his  mental  make  up  the  emotional  element 
largely  predominated;  he  was  so  much  a  creature  of  im- 
pulse that  there  is  nothing  surprising  in  the  extent  to 


FACTORS  IN  UOCIAL  PROGRE8S.  107 

which  he  moved  the  world.  The  world  had  come  to  recog- 
nize that,  while  reason  must  not  be  ignored  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  youth,  it  cannot  be  wholly  depended  on  as  a  guide. 
Modern  pedagogy  lays  large  stress  on  training,  on  giving 
direction  to  the  young  citizen  or  the  young  Christian  be- 
fore he  is  old  enough  to  reason  much  about  it.  It  seeks  to 
cultivate  his  sympathies  for  the  needs  of  society  before  the 
selfishness  that  he  is  destined  to  find  all  around  him  in 
later  life  gains  the  mastery  over  him.  He  is  taught  that 
the  poor  and  degraded  have  a  claim  upon  his  charity,  al- 
though this  charity  is  to  be  kept  under  the  control  of  rea- 
son. He  may  not  let  the  slave  or  beggar  perish  from  neg- 
lect, even  though  both  are  largely  responsible  for  their  con- 
dition. It  is  sympathy,  not  reason,  that  is  the  moving 
force  in  the  philanthropic  spirit  that  we  see  manifesting 
itself  so  powerfully  wherever  man  has  any  claim  to  be 
called  civilized.  Examples  are  numerous  and  ready  to 
hand  everywhere.  Surely  nothing  can  be  more  reasonable 
than  the  doctrine  that  every  man  is  inherently  as  good  aa 
another;  yet  how  slow  the  world  has  been  in  recognizing 
this  self-evident  truth,  even  in  theory!  Christianity  first 
enunciated  it,  but  even  Christianity  was  not  able  to  bear 
up  permanently  against  the  tide  of  sentiment  and  tradi- 
tion that  bore  down  upon  it.  The  early  Christians  them- 
selves were  slow  to  accept  the  doctrine,  with  all  the  conse- 
quences that  seemed  likely  to  flow  from  it.  Even  to-day 
it  is  far  more  a  matter  of  theory  than  of  actual  practice,  so 
slowly  does  the  world  outgrow  its  prejudices. 

The  spiritual  nature  of  man,  that  prescience  of  God's 
plan  in  the  government  of  the  world,  that  sublime  faith 
in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  right  which  we  often  see  mani- 
fested in  highly  endowed  natures,  is  in  no  wise  amenable  to 
the  laws  of  reason.  We  see  this  exhibited  in  the  most 


108  WISDOM.  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

marked  degree  in  the  Hebrew  prophets.  Their  lofty  faith 
in  the  coming  of  a  Messiah  who  should  rule  the  world  in 
righteousness  was  a  trait  of  a  highly  endowed  spiritual  na- 
ture. The  intellect  colored  its  outward  expression,  and  to 
some  extent  modified  its  form,  but  was  not  its  source. 
Many  of  the  world's  greatest  benefactors — in  truth,  the 
large  majority  of  them — have  not  been  men  of  pre-eminent 
intellectual  endowment.  They  were  men  whose  will  was 
aroused  to  activity  by  a  contemplation  of  the  situation  in 
which  they  found  themselves.  Kant  said  there  is  but  one 
good  thing  in  the  world,  and  that  is  a  good  will.  But  the 
emotional  nature  seems  to  be  more  clearly  related  to  the 
will  than  to  the  intellect,  and  to  be  more  readily  influenced 
by  it.  The  result  is  that  progress,  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
word,  is  not  primarily  intellectual.  Its  various  phases  do 
not,  in  the  main,  originate  with  the  intellectual  class, 
though  men  of  large  intellectual  endowments  often  identify 
themselves  with  it.  It  is  a  mistake,  therefore,  to  suppose 
that  by  stimulating  and  cultivating  the  intellect  alone  we 
can  make  the  world  better.  Knowledge  is  not  even  power, 
as  we  are  so  often  told.  It  is,  indeed,  an  indispensable  pre- 
requisite to  power;  but  power  is  latent  unless  stimulated 
into  activity  by  the  will.  They  are  sadly  mistaken  who 
imagine  that  nothing  is  necessary  to  insure  the  continuous 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  mankind  but  a  continu- 
ous increase  of  the  world's  stock  of  available  knowledge. 

After  this  brief  review  of  the  psychic  forces  that  have 
been  chiefly  instrumental  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  men 
and  nations  we  need  not  wonder  that  human  progress  has 
been  slow,  painfully  slow.  Irrational  motives  have  been 
predominant  everywhere.  Yet  morality  is  a  child  of  the 
intellect.  Even  the  most  disinterested  altruism  may  do 
more  harm  than  good  if  it  is  not  intelligently  directed.  If 


FACTORS  IN  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  109 

man  were  not  an  intelligent  being  he  would  make  no  more 
progress  than  the  lower  animals.  In  the  future  as  in  the 
past  we  must  look  to  the  regulative  faculty  to  point  out  the 
course  of  safety.  It  is  like  the  compass  upon  which  the 
mariner  depends  to  guide  him  across  the  watery  waste. 
For  while  it  has  no  power  to  move  his  ship  an  inch  the 
stronger  the  propelling  forces  that  urge  him  forward  the 
greater  the  danger  he  incurs  without  its  guidance.  While 
this  general  truth  has  been  patent  to  a  few  far-sighted 
men  almost  from  time  immemorial, — Socrates  especially 
pointed  it  out  with  great  clearr^ss  and  his  disciples  after 
him — it  has  never  been  so  widely  comprehended  as  now. 
The  theory  of  modern  education  proceeds  on  the  assump- 
tion of  the  paramount  importance  of  the  human  intellect. 
This  is  not  saying  that  education  should  be  exclusively 
intellectual.  On  the  contrary,  moral  should  precede  in- 
tellectual education  in  time  and  be  its  constant  companion. 
But  even  moral  education  can  accomplish  little  unless 
wisely  directed.  If  we  are  inclined  to  look  with  distrust 
on  the  large  claims  made  for  national  education  in  our 
day  by  its  most  enthusiastic  champions,  because  even  the 
best  education  the  world  has  had  in  the  past  seems  to  have 
counted  for  so  little,  let  us  remember  that  education  in 
a  large  way  is  hardly  older  than  the  present  generation. 
It  has  never  had  a  trial.  It  has  always  been  confined  to  a 
class  or  to  a  few  classes.  When  attempts  have  been  made 
to  put  an  education,  even  the  most  elementary,  within 
the  reach  of  all  its  quality  has  been  very  inferior.  Yet 
few  competent  judges  will  deny  that  much  more  might  be 
done  by  teachers  under  present  conditions  and  with  the 
present  financial  resources  at  their  disposal  than  is  at  pres- 
ent being  done.  While  there  is  little  difference  of  opinion 
among  educationists  as  to  the  ends  of  education,  there  is 
considerable  difference  as  to  the  means  and  methods  by 


110  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

which  these  ends  may  be  most  surely  attained.  Nor  is 
it  probable  that  entire  agreement  will  ever  be  reached,  but 
a  substantial  agreement  is  palpably  not  far  in  the  future. 
It  is  not  here  contended  that  the  most  nearly  perfect  system 
of  general  education  the  human  mind  can  desire  will  ever 
totally  eliminate  from  society  the  pauper  and  the  criminal. 
The  poor  and  the  vicious  we  shall  always  have  with  us. 
On  the  other  hand  when  we  consider  how  much  is  being 
done  under,  intelligent  direction  and  how  much  has  already 
been  accomplished  to  enable  all  the  members  of  the  body 
politic  to  help  themselves  to  make  life  more  worth  living 
for  all  who  constitute  civilized  communities  and  that  the 
good  work  had  only  begun  on  a  large  scale  we  may  well  be 
hopeful  of  the  future. 

NOTE.— Charbonnel,  in  his  "Victory  of  the  Will,"  tells  us  how 
this  victory  is  to  be  gained.  "The  philosophers  have  established 
laws  for  the  discipline  of  the  emotions  and  the  control  of  our 
whole  being, — namely,  when  an  emotion  or  a  sentiment  favorable 
to  our  ideal  arises  in  our  consciousness,  we  are  to  fix  our  atten- 
tion on  this  passion  or  sentiment,  so  as  clearly  to  recognize  its 
purity  and  grandeur,  and  to  arouse  in  ourselves  an  effort  of  the  will 
which  shall  be  conformable  to  it;  when  an  emotion  or  a  senti- 
ment arises  which  is  antagonistic  to  our  ideal,  we  must  refuse 
it  any  attention,  not  even  think  of  it,  and  thus  let  it  pass  into  ob- 
livion. If  we  have  already  allowed  an  evil  passion  or  an  emo- 
tion to  grow  and  exercise  an  invincible  power  over  us,  we  must 
examine  seriously  the  ideas  connected  with  it  and  the  object  it 
proposes  to  our  will.  Finally  in  the  case  where  a  desirable  pas- 
sion or  sentiment  is  lacking  in  us,  we  must  search  out  the  ideas 
with  which  this  passion  or  sentiment  may  have  some  affiliation, 
and  turn  our  mind  toward  these  ideas,  keep  them  constantly  pres- 
ent to  our  consciousness,  and  arouse  the  natural  law  of  associa- 
tion which  connect  such  emotions,  such  ideas,  together." 

Again:  "A  noble  life,  it  has  been  said,  is  the  grandest  master- 
piece which  any  man  can  achieve.  It  is  an  harmonious  and 
beautiful  achievement.  It  is  our  privilege  to  subordinate  and  co- 


FACTORS  /A7  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  HI 

ordinate  in  ourselves,  by  the  exercise  of  our  will,  our  varied  and 
contradictory  emotions.  The  ancients  compared  the  soul  to  an 
harmonious  lyre,  which  gives  forth  sweet  sounds  under  the  fin- 
gers of  the  wind.  This,  which  is  true  of  the  poetic  soul,  is 
equally  true  of  the  moral  soul.  It  should  be  a  well-tuned  and 
well-strung  lyre,  responding  to  all  the  impressions  of  life.  And 
the  best  law  for  the  development  of  the  higher  life  is  not  the  stern 
repression  of  our  emotional  nature,  or  the  violent  destruction  of 
this  part  of  our  being,  but  the  wise  and  firm  direction  of  it  by 
the  will.  No  repression,  no  suppression,  no  mutilation,  but  a 
peaceful  and  serene  domination  of  the  will  in  our  harmonious 
soul." 

Metaphysicians  and  psychologists  may  dispute  as  much  as  they 
please  about  the  freedom  of  the  will;  in  the  last  analysis  every- 
body acts  as  if  his  own  will  were  free  and  that  of  all  other  person1* 
likewise.  The  entire  theory  and  practice  of  reAvards  and  punish- 
ments is  based  on  this  postulate.  As  Froude  says,  "To  deny  the 
freedom  of  the  will  is  to  make  morality  impossible."  Neverthe- 
less action  is  always  directed  by  the  strongest  motive  and  motive 
is  wholly  subjective.  What  a  man's  motives  are  in  general  de- 
pends almost  entirely  upon  his  education,  directly  and  indirectly. 
Two  men  have  the  same  opportunity  for  making  a  great  deal  of 
money.  One  of  them  says,  "The  morality  of  the  proposed  trans- 
action is  questionable;  I  can  not  be  a  party  to  it."  The  other 
has  no  such  scruples, — is  not  "squeamish,"  as  the  worldling  puts 
it, — and  becomes  rich.  Here  the  external  conditions  for  both  men 
are  precisely  the  same  and  the  motive  the  same ;  but  the  will  leads 
to  diametrically  opposite  action.  If  education  can  not  keep  the 
young  free  from  temptation  it  can  do  much  toward  enabling  thrtn 
to  meet  it  as  becomes  beings  who  are  normally  responsible.  With 
a  quotation  from  Epictetus  I  may  fitly  conclude  this  paper: 
"There  is  nothing  good  or  evil  save  in  the  will." 


RESPONSIBILITY. 

When  the  Lord  said  unto  Cain,  "Where  is  thy  brother  ?" 
the  latter  took  the  question  as  an  impertinence,  and  re- 
joined, "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?"  No  wonder  the  mis- 
creant was  offended.  He  was  not  in  position  to  give  an 
account  of  his  treatment  of  his  brother.  He  would  no 
doubt  have  been  ready  and  willing  to  answer  much  harder 
questions  than  this  one,  but  when  he  was  asked  about  a 
matter  of  which  he  was  fully  cognizant  he  preferred  to 
feign  ignorance.  It  seemed  the  shortest  and  most  direct 
way  out  of  a  difficulty. 

I  do  not  here  use  the  term  brother  in  the  sense  in  which 
it  was  understood  by  the  first  murderer  who  has  the  mis- 
fortune to  have  his  name  handed  down  to  posterity,  but  in 
the  sense  generally  attached  to  it  in  the  New  Testament. 
The  progress  of  civilization  or  at  least  of  national  and  in- 
ternational intercourse  has  made  closer  and  closer  the 
bonds  that  bind  together  the  remotest  dwellers  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth.  But  in  every  community  every  man  is 
more  or  less  responsible  for  his  fellow-citizens,  usually 
quite  as  much  as  if  he  were  the  son  of  the  same  father  and 
mother.  The  question,  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?  has 
made  a  good  many  people  uncomfortable  since  the  son  of 

(112) 


RESPONSIBILITY.  113 

Noah  first  asked  it.  Some  answer  it  in  the  affirmative, 
some  in  the  negative ;  but  society  will  not  accept  the  latter 
answer.  Glance  over  the  list  of  objects  for  which  taxes  are 
collected  and  you  will  see  that  to  a  very  large  extent  every 
man  is  his  brother's  keeper.  Even  if  the  responsibility 
does  not  go  so  far  as  to  require  a  direct  contribution, 
it  requires  something.  Yet  the  tax-list  represents  but  a 
small  part  of  the  claims  our  fellow-men  hav3  upon  each 
other.  When  a  .demand  comes  to  them  in  the  garb  of 
law  most  people  will  recognize  it  more  or  less  willingly: 
it  is  the  claims  that  carry  with  them  no  legal  obligation; 
that  grow  only  out  of  the  recognition  of  a  mutual  respon- 
sibility which  give  the  genuinely  good  man  the  most  con- 
cern. A  man  may  strictly  observe  the  statute  law  yet 
be  neither  a  good  man  nor  a  good  citizen.  We  can  not 
say  of  a  man  who  does  no  more  than  the  law  prescribes 
that  he  does  his  duty  even  to  this  extent;  he  merely  per- 
forms reluctantly  a  disagreeable  task.  We  repeat  then 
that  every  man  is  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  his  brother's 
keeper  whether  he  wishes  to  be  or  not.  The  question  is 
not  whether  he  will  assume  the  responsibility  that  circum- 
stances place  upon  him,  but  how  he  will  discharge  that  re- 
sponsibility. Will  he  lift  up  his  brother  or  will  he  drag 
him  down  ?  If  he  is  weak,  will  he  aid  and  strengthen  him 
or  will  he  allow  him  to  succumb  to  his  weakness?  When 
we  study  a  human  being  from  the  intellectual  side  only 
we  must  admit  that  Hamlet  was  right  when  he 'exclaimed, 
"What  a  piece  of  work  is  man!  how  noble  in  reason! 
how  infinite  in  faculty !  in  form  and  moving,  how  express 
and  admirable !  In  action  how  like  an  angel !  In  appre- 
hension, how  like  a  god !  The  beauty  of  the  world !  The 
paragon  of  animals!"  On  the  other  hand  it  is  equally 
true  that  "man  is  but  a  reed,  weakest  in  nature,  but  a  reed 


114  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

that  thinks.  It  needs  not  that  the  whole  universe  should 
arm  to  crush  him,  a  drop  of  water  is  enough  to  kill  him. 
But  were  the  universe  to  kill  him  he  would  still  be  more 
noble  than  his  slayer  because  he  knows  that  he  dies  and 
that  the  universe  has  the  better  of  him.  The  universe 
knows  nothing  of  this."  On  the  other  hand  we  may  well 
ask:  "How  was  it  possible  that  it  should  ever  enter  into 
the  thoughts  of  vain  man  to  believe  himself  the  principal 
part  of  God's  creation,  or  that  all  the  rest  was  ordained  for 
him,  for  his  service  or  pleasure?  Man,  whose  follies  we 
laugh  at  every  day,  or  else  complain  of  them,  whose  plea- 
sures are  vanity,  and  his  passions  stronger  than  his  rea- 
son :  who  sees  himself  every  way  weak  and  impotent ;  hath 
no  power  over  external  nature,  little  over  himself ;  can  not 
execute  so  much  as  his  own  good  resolution;  mutable,  ir- 
regular, prone  to  evil.  Surely,  if  we  made  the  least  reflec- 
tion upon  ourselves  with  impartiality  we  should  be  ashamed 
of  such  an  arrogant  thought.  How  few  of  the  sons  of  men 
for  whom  they  say  all  things  are  made  are  the  sons  of 
wisdom!  How  few  find  the  path  of  life!  They  spend  a 
few  days  in  folly  and  in  sin,  and  then  go  down  to  the  re- 
gions of  death  and  misery.  And  is  it  possible  to  believe 
that  all  nature  and  all  providence  are  only,  or  principally 
for  their  sake?  Is  it  not  a  more  reasonable  conclusion 
which  the  prophet  hath  made,  Surely  all  things  are  van- 
ity?" In  reality  both  views  are  true  and  not  inconsistent 
with  each  other.  "Man's  two-fold  nature  is  reflected  in 
history.  He  is  of  earth,  but  his  thoughts  are  with  the 
stars.  Mean  and  petty  his  wants  and  desires;  yet  they 
serve  a  soul  exalted  with  grand,  glorious  aims,  with  im- 
mortal longings,  with  thoughts  which  sweep  the  heavens 
and  wander  through  eternity!  A  pigmy  standing  on  the 
outer  crust  of  this  planet,  his  far-reaching  spirit  stretches 


RESPONSIBILITY.  115 

outward  to  the  infinite,  and  there  alone  finds  rest.  His- 
tory is  a  reflex  of  this  double  life.  Every  life  has  two  as- 
pects— one  calm,  broad  and  solemn— looking  towards  eter- 
nity; the  other  agitated,  petty,  vehement  and  confused — 
looking  towards  time."  It  is  true  that  the  fountain  of 
human  effort  sends  forth  bitter  waters  and  sweet, — a  mix- 
ture of  that  which  is  pure  and  refreshing  and  healthful 
with  what  is  noxious  and  debilitating  and  deadly.  There  is 
abundant  evidence  of  the  worth  of  a  man,  but  the  evidence 
of  his  vileness  is  almost  equally  abundant.  Yet  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  a  human  being  exists  that  is  wholly  depraved.  No 
doubt  every  man  is  more  or  less  selfish.  We  are  all  willing 
to  let  our  fellow-men  have  some  of  the  good  things  of  this 
life,  but  we  are  not  all  of  one  mind  how  the  division  shall 
be  made  of  what  is  really  valuable.  Even  the  wise  virgins 
said,  "Not  so,  lest  there  be  not  enough  for  us  and  you; 
but  go  ye  and  buy  for  yourselves,"  when  they  must  have 
known  that  if  their  foolish  sisters  followed  their  advice 
they  could  not  return  in  time  for  the  wedding,  even  if  they 
had  the  wherewithal  to  purchase.  It  is  hard  and  often 
impossible  to  draw  the  line  between  selfishness  and  en- 
lightened self-interest.  We  too  often  find  that  the  man 
who  has  no  money  is  dissatisfied  because  the  man  who  has  a 
dime  will  not  divide  with  him.  He  does  not  stop  to  con- 
sider whether  it  is  not  his  own  fault  that  he  is  penniless. 
Without  a  certain  measure  of  regard  for  one's  self  on  the 
part  of  the  great  majority  of  mankind  there  can  be  no 
enlightenment.  If  the  experience  of  the  race  has  proved 
anything  it  has  proved  this.  No  matter  how  tenaciously 
the  miser  holds  on  to  what  he  has  acquired  during  life  the 
world  at  large  generally  gets  the  benefit  of  his  accumula- 
tions in  the  end.  He  can  not  take  his  treasures  with  him 
when  he  leaves  this  world,  and  if  he  has  not  learned  how 


HO  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION". 

to  keep  wisely  and  spend  judiciously  while  he  lives  his 
possessions  do  him  little  good  unless  it  be  in  the  reflection 
that  his  heirs  will  be  more  far-sighted  than  he.  What- 
ever we  may  say  against  avarice,  it  is  after  all  nothing 
more  than  a  legitimate  and  healthful  passion  grown  to 
excess.  We  do  not  give  it  a  harsh  name  in  its  inception 
any  more  than  we  designate  the  wholesome  desire  for  food, 
gluttony.  So  far  as  we  are  able  to  jiidge  such  things  the 
richest  nations  are  those  among  which  individual  happiness 
is  the  greatest,  and  vice  versa.  The  talk  of  the  socialist 
about  the  equality  of  opportunity  and  the  right  of  all  to 
an  equal  share  of  the  good  things  of  this  life  can  not  be 
regarded  as  anything  more  than  idle  rant  in  the  mouths 
of  those  who  most  use  the  phrase,  especially  if  these  things 
are  sought  under  present  conditions.  But  we  can  hardly 
refuse  to  acknowledge  that  it  is  a  noble  aspiration  toward 
the  realization  of  which  men  may  approach  nearer  and 
nearer  as  the  days  and  the  years  go  by.  The  rapidity  of 
this  approach  is  dependent  solely  upon  the  effort,  the  self- 
denial  and  the  clearly  divined  purpose  of  the  successive 
generations  of  men  as  they  come  upon  the  stage  of  action. 
In  spite  of  the  misery  in  the  world ;  in  spite  of  the  abso- 
lute want;  in  spite  of  the  unequal  division  of  what  are 
called  the  good  things  of  this  life — all  of  which  are  pain- 
fully evident  almost  every  day,  I  am  persuaded  that  the 
world  is  not  only  not  growing  worse,  but  is  improving. 
The  poorest  man  has  within  his  reach  many  things  that 
go  to  make  life  agreeable  that  cost  him  nothing  and  which 
his  ancestors  did  not  have.  No  one  will  deny  that  we 
might  be  better  off  in  many  things  than  we  are  and  that 
in  not  a  few  regards  the  times  are  out  of  joint;  but  this 
is  something  quite  different  from  the  charge  often  made 
that  we  are  going  from  bad  to  worse. 


RESPONSIBILITY.  117 

•"I  doubt  not  thro'  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs, 
And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the  process  of 

the  suns." 

This  purpose  is  not  in  the  material  forces  that  hold  us 
in  their  pitiless  grasp  and  have  not  changed  since  the 
world  was  created,  nor  in  the  intellect  of  man  which  has 
not  gained  in  acuteness  since  the  appearance  of  our  first 
ancestor  upon  the  face  of  the  earth;  it  is  in  the  moral 
forces  that  are  visibly  gaining  in  power  and  prestige  day 
by  day.  These  forces  are  generated  in  the  mind  of  the  in- 
dividual, but  their  growth  is  stimulated  by  emulation  and 
co-operation.  There  is  most  progress  where  there  is  most 
liberty,  properly  regulated  by  law.  Communism  has 
been  tried  many  times  and  in  a  number  of  different 
places,  but  it  has  never  prospered.  The  development  of 
human  institutions  has  been  steadily  away  from  such  a 
condition  of  things.  Only  here  and  there  do  we  find 
a  man  who  is  as  willing  to  labor  for  others  as  for  him- 
self. You  can  never  get  many  of  them  together;  if 
you  could,  there  would  be  no  sphere  of  activity  in 
which  their  self-denial  could  become  effective.  The  self- 
ishness of  most  men  only  makes  the  absence  of  it  the  more 
conspicuous  in  a  few.  It  is  the  light  shining  into  dark- 
ness, and  it  is  this  light  that  draws  the  attention  and  com- 
pels the  admiration  of  men.  While  in  one  sense  the  ten- 
dency of  the  world  for  more  than  a  thousand  years  has 
been  to  circumscribe  the  sphere  of  the  individual,  in  an- 
other and  wider  sense  it  has  been  in  the  direction  of  enlarg- 
ing it.  There  never  was  so  much  individual  liberty  in  the 
world  as  there  is  now.  With  the  growth  of  individual  lib- 
erty has  also  grown  the  spirit  of  self-activity  for  the  bet- 
terment of  society  as  a  whole.  While  modern  states  have 
never  done  so  much  as  they  are  now  doing  for  the  educa- 


118  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION, 

tion  of  the  young  to  enable  them  to  take  care  of  themselves 
they  doing  an  equal  or  even  greater  amount  for  the  care 
of  those  who  are  imbecile  in  mind  or  body  or  both.  Yet  in 
spite  of  this  growth  of  the  spirit  of  socialism,  individual 
initiative  and  personal  exertion  have  not  been  in  abey- 
ance. Take  the  case  of  a  single  uplifting  force,  the 
church.  Only  a  short  time  ago  Sir  Walter  Besant  publicly 
stated  that  fortunately  the  church  was  no  longer  the  dead 
thing  it  was  fifty  years  ago.  Speaking  particularly  of 
London,  he  continued :  "The  church  is  doing  an  enormous 
amount  of  good.  It  has  taken  a  new  lease  of  life.  One 
can  not  overrate  its  services.  A  year  or  two  ago  I  investi- 
gated the  matter  fully,  taking  as  my  field  of  study  a  river- 
side parish  in  the  East  End.  I  found  there  a  hundred  lay- 
men and  women  working  for  nothing  under  the  guidance 
of  the  clergyman  and  his  curate,  visiting  the  poor,  organiz- 
ing services,  forming  clubs  for  the  boys  and  girls,  mothers' 
meetings  and  meetings  for  the  sale  of  clothing  at  very 
cheap  rates  to  the  poor  who  would  otherwise  never  have 
been  able  to  buy  any  clothes  at  all.  There  were  also  a 
creche  for  the  babies  and  a  house  where  children  were 
kept  from  after  school  to  bedtime.  Then  there  were  Sun- 
day schools,  excellent  for  keeping  children  out  of  mischief. 
In  fact  the  lives  of  the  clergy  in  the  East  End  are  one  long 
round  of  ceaseless  activity.  This  activity  of  the  church 
has  been  growing  for  the  last  twenty  years.  Formerly  the 
church  was  indifferent  to  the  poor.  I  can  not  give  a  rea- 
son for  this  change  for  the  bettsr,  I  can  only  testify  to  its 
existence."  The  same  activity  is  displayed  in  other  parts 
of  the  Kingdom  and  the  same  or  similar  agencies  are  at 
work  in  every  city  of  the  United  States.  The  church  has 
not  transformed  itself  by  an  unconscious  sort  of  biological 
process ;  we  may  be  sure  that  the  change  was  brought  about 


RESPONSIBILITY.  H9 

by  ii  recognition  on  the  part  of  its  leading  spirits  that  a 
transformation  was  necessary. 

As  to  the  body  politic,  we  need  to  remember  that  it  is 
not  an  association  from  which  we  can  withdraw  at  pleas- 
ure as  if  it  were  a  business  concern  of  which  we  did  not 
like  the  management  or  a  profession  that  has  become  dis- 
tasteful to  us.  As  we  are  in  it  to  stay,  we  shall  do  well 
to  make  the  best  of  it,  or  rather,  do  what  we  can  to  make 
it  as  good  as  possible.  No  greater  misfortune  can  befall 
a  young  man  than  to  get  "soured  on  the  world,"  as  the 
expression  goes.  We  often  hear  it  said  that  there  are 
tricks  in  every  trade  and  if  you  would  succeed  you  must 
learn  and  practice  them.  I  very  much  doubt  this  unless 
you  give  the  term  "tricks"  a  very  much  milder  meaning 
than  is  usually  attached  to  it.  I  can,  of  course,  not  deny 
that  men  often  succeed  by  the  methods  of  the  heathen 
Chinee,  at  least  they  achieve  what  some  persons  are  wont 
to  call  success ;  but  if  their  example  were  followed  by  men 
in  general  all  confidence  between  man  and  man  would  be 
destroyed  and  civilized  society  made  impossible.  The  solid 
men  of  the  business  world  are  they  whose  word  is  as  good 
as  their  bond. 

We  have  among  us  a  large  amount  of  literature  that 
it  is  the  custom  with  some  to  disparage  on  the  ground 
that  it  smacks  of  the  Sunday  school.  It  is  the  sort  in 
which  vice  is  invariably  punished  and  virtue  rewarded. 
There  is  a  deep  meaning  in  this  popularity.  It  is  the  con- 
crete picture  of  human  life  as  the  human  heart  desires  it 
to  be.  It  represents  the  ideal  state  toward  which  the  world 
is  striving,  however  slow  its  approach  may  be.  It  is  the 
silent  but  powerful  voice  of  mankind  in  its  best  estate 
pleading  through  the  pen  of  the  literary  artist  for  the  re- 
ward of  Virtue  and  the  punishment  of  Vice.  When  the 


120  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

conditions  are  reversed  violence  is  done  to  man's  better 
nature,  to  the  universal  conscience.  Consider  the  case  for 
a  moment  and  you  will  see  that  almost  the  entire  body  of 
modern  fiction  does  homage  to  this  longing  of  our  nature. 
In  real  life  the  result  is  often  different,  but  in  imaginative 
literature  rarely.  No  English  writer  has  enjoyed  such 
long-continued  and  unbounded  popularity  as  Scott.  The 
thought  that  runs  like  a  thread  of  gold  through  all  his 
writings  may  be  fitly  expressed  in  the  words,  Virtue  and 
Vice  always  get  their  deserts.  The  same  statement  is 
true  in  almost  equal  measure  of  Dickens  and  Thackeray 
and  George  Eliot  and  a  host  of  others,  all  of  whom  seek 
to  enlist  our  sympathies  for  the  good  and  arouse  our  de- 
testation of  the  bad.  Even  when  strength  triumphs  over 
weakness;  vice  over  virtue;  wrong  over  right,  the  reader 
almost  always  feels  that  he  would  rather  be  the  vanquished 
than  the  victor.  It  is  the  voluntary  choice  of  the  human 
heart  when  unbiased  and  unpolluted  by  the  selfishness  that 
so  often  makes  its  power  felt  in  the  actual  world.  We  take 
much  greater  pleasure  in  Ihe  study  of  life  as  we  wish  it  to 
be  than  as  it  is.  We  involuntarily  recognize  the  goal 
toward  which  the  actions  of  men  ought  to  be  directed. 

Yet  something  more  is  necessary  to  success  than  mere 
honesty,  in  fact  a  great  deal  more.  Honesty  is  indeed 
fundamental,  but  to  these  must  be  joined  tact,  common 
sense,  a  willingness  to  deny  one's  self  a  good  many  things 
which  it  would  be  pleasant  to  possess,  and  industry.  It  is 
not  hard  for  a  judicious  observer  to  see  why  some  very  good 
people  do  not  get  along.  In  spite  of  their  virtues  those 
who  know  them  have  no  confidence  in  them.  While  al- 
ways moved  with  the  best  intentions,  they  lack  some  im- 
portant qualifications  and  others  who  are  morally  less 
worthy  outstrip  them  in  the  race  of  life.  It  would  clearly 


RESPONSIBILITY.  121 

be  a  perversion  of  the  truth  to  say  that  inefficiency  in  such 
cases  is  synonymous  with  uprightness,  or  that  such  per- 
sons were  failures  because  they  were  too  honest.  Besides, 
it  is  natural  for  men  to  feel  a  certain  degree  of  satisfac- 
tion in  the  manifestation  of  power.  We  involuntarily  ad- 
mire the  man  who  does  things,  who  accomplishes  his  pur- 
poses, even  when  the  means  he  employs  do  not  meet  our  ap- 
proval nor  the  ends  aimed  at  commend  themselves  to  our 
moral  sense.  A  negative  man,  one  who  always  stands  on 
the  defensive,  who  is  never  aggressive,  may  be  a  good  man. 
but  he  is  rarely  of  much  use  in  the  community.  But  the 
number  of  persons  who  are  so  constructed  that  they  may 
flagrantly  disregard  the  rules  of  right  and  yet  achieve  suc- 
cess in  any  calling  is  very  small. 

A  lucid  writer  in  a  very  recent  work  gives  expression  to 
his  conviction  in  the  following  language.  "Morality"— 
meaning  by  this  term  moral  conduct  in  its  widest  sense — 
"is  a  necessity  of  social  life.  The  relations  of  human  be- 
ings to  each  other  are  organic,  and  conduct  must  be  regu- 
lated to  some  degree  by  every  one  with  reference  to  others. 
Under  the  pressure  of  the  social  situation  of  mankind, 
ideals  of  duty  grow  and  a  moral  sensibility  is  developed. 
As  this  sense  increases  in  power,  it  tends  more  and  more 
to  dominate  the  whole  mental  nature  and  to  control  con- 
duct; that  which  is  right  is  approved  and  that  which  is 
wrong  is  repugnant.  The  moral  consequences  of  actions 
are  regarded  closely  and  educational  influences  become  of 
importance.  Moral  men  and  women  please  and  the  im- 
moral are  displeasing.  Our  sympathies  are  with  the  right- 
eous and  our  aspirations  are  toward  moral  ideals." 

It  needs  to  be  constantly  kept  in  mind  that  the  world's 
estimate  of  what  constitutes  success  is  often  a  wrong  one. 
It  looks  for  visible,  tangible  and  immediate  results,  when. 


122  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

in  fact  the  most  abiding  results  are  the  slowest  to  make 
themselves  felt.  How  many  thousands  of  men  have  lived 
who  were  regarded  as  great  in  their  day  who  were  soon  ut- 
terly forgotten  by  almost  everybody !  It  does  not  after  all 
matter  very  much,  if  we  are  conscious  of  doing  our  best, 
whether  we  are  appreciated  or  not.  Men  of  large  views 
and  keen  penetration  are  always  ahead  of  their  time.  It 
is  an  unfortunate  weakness  to  be  always  on  the  lookout  for 
praise.  If  men  never  took  a  step  in  advance  of  public 
opinion  for  fear  of  arousing  some  one's  displeasure  there 
would  be  no  progress.  Some  of  the  most  important  public 
measures  and  not  a  few  of  the  world's  greatest  benefactors 
have  encountered  the  most  violent  opposition.  On  the 
other  hand  few  persons,  especially  among  the  }roung,  can 
resist  the  seductions  of  praise.  In  truth,  however,  censure 
is  far  less  dangerous,  and  he  is  a  wise  man  who  heeds  even 
if  he  can  not  allow  himself  to  be  influenced  by  it.  Popu- 
larity is  mere  surface  valuation.  The  great  mass  of  man- 
kind do  not  care  to  go  deeper.  It  is  only  the  thinking 
man,  the  careful  student  in  a  large  way  that  can  distin- 
guish between  what  is  really  good  and  what  seems  so. 

It  is  a  common  mistake  to  underestimate  the  important 
part  the  individual,  even  the  one  who  seems  the  most  in- 
significant, may  contribute  to  the  general  welfare  and 
progress  of  the  community.  Suppose  it  were  possible  to 
make  every  member  of  ever  so  small  a  social  organism  feel 
that  the  reputation  of  the  whole  for  honesty  and  fair- 
dealing  depended  on  him  alone,  what  a  step  forward  that 
would  be!  Suppose  that  every  scholar  in  any  particular 
school  could  be  made  to  realize  that  its  good  name  de- 
pended on  his  conduct  and  studiousness,  how  quickly  it 
would  become  a  light  that  would  shine  near  and  far !  There 
are  not  many  men  who  are  endowed  or  entrusted  with  ten 


RESPONSIBILITY.  123 

talents;  there  are  more  who  have  in  their  keeping  five 
talents,  and  many  more  who  have  one.  How  important 
then  that  all  the  men  of  one  talent  should  consider  ear- 
nestly how  to  make  the  best  of  it!  There  are  so  many 
ways  in  which  the  good  of  the  little  community  of  which 
most  of  us  are  a  part,  may  be  promoted.  This  is  not  done 
by  waiting  for  great  opportunities  that  rarely  present 
themselves,  but  by  improving  the  small  ones  that  so  often 
come  in  our  way.  Maydole,  the  celebrated  hammer-maker, 
once  said  to  James  Parton,  "I  have  made  hammers  here 
for  twenty-eight  years."  "Well,"  said  Parton,  "you  ought 
to  make  a  pretty  good  hammer."  "No,  sir,"  was  the  reply, 
"I  never  make  a  pretty  good  hammer.  I  make  the  best 
hammer  in  the  United  States."  And  buyers  had  long  be- 
fore endorsed  his  statement.  The  president  of  the  Cam- 
bria rail  works,  one  of  the  largest  concerns  of  the  kind  in 
the  world,  being  asked  the  secret  of  the  enormous  develop- 
ment of  their  business,  replied,  "We  have  no  secret.  We 
always  try  to  beat  our  last  batch  of  rails." 

But  there  are  so  few  people  who  are  really  anxious  to 
do  their  best.  The  great  majority  want  to  be  taken  at 
their  own  estimate  of  themselves,  and  when  they  find  that 
this  is  not  done  they  are  dissatisfied  and  are  ready  to  de- 
clare that  success  in  this  world  is  all  a  matter  of  chance.  I 
do  not  wish  to  deny  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  luck,  but 
it  finds  very  few  people,  and  rarely,  if  ever,  those  who  are 
waiting  to  be  found. 

While  it  is  true  that  there  is  most  progress  where  there 
is  most  liberty,  and  therefore  the  trend  of  events  is  favor- 
able to  democracy,  we  need  to  beware  of  trusting  too  much 
to  government  or  indeed  to  institutions  of  any  sort  that 
exist  only  on  paper.  What  is  theoretically  the  best  gov- 
ernment in  the  world  may  in  practice  be  the  worst.  Every 


124  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

organization  is  what  its  members  make  it.  It  depends 
upon  the  temper  of  the  individual.  It  is  important,  there- 
fore that  the  individual  be  enlightened  in  order  that  the 
entire  community  be  enlightened.  This  necessity  is  being 
more  and  more  felt  everywhere ;  hence  the  abundant  means 
in  our  day  for  promoting  general  intelligence.  But  what 
use  shall  be  made  of  these  means  again  depends  upon  the 
individual.  We  often  hear  it  said  that  the  progress  of  a 
country  depends  very  largely  upon  its  colleges  and  uni- 
versities. To  what  extent  this  is  true  rests  wholly  upon 
the  spirit  with  which  they  are  managed.  Russia  and 
Spain  and  even  Turkey  and  China  have  their  universities, 
as  well  as  Germany  and  England  and  the  United  States. 
Yet  I  am  not  aware  that  they  contribute  anything  worth 
mentioning  to  the  progress  of  these  countries.  They  are 
rather  the  strongholds  of  the  conservatism  that  is  so  fatal 
to  progress  and  of  those  nations  that  look  to  the  past  rather 
than  to  the  future.  The  spirit  of  the  higher  education 
is  the  spirit  of  the  nations  that  foster  it.  If  you  want 
a  tree  or  a  shrub  to  grow  luxuriantly  and  healthfully  you 
must  plant  it  in  a  fertile  soil  and  allow  the  rain  and  the 
light  to  fall  upon  it.  Sometimes  it  may  be  advisable  to 
protect  it  against  adverse  atmospheric  conditions;  but 
too  much  protection  will  defeat  the  very  ends  you  aim  at. 
The  same  is  true  of  education.  It  needs  to  be  wisely  di- 
rected from  above,  but  not  cramped  by  too  much  regula- 
tion. It  needs  to  be  fostered  by  governments,  but  not  ham- 
pered by  them  with  too  many  and  too  minute  regulations. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  church.  It  can  do  nothing  or 
next  to  nothing  by  the  mere  fact  of  its  organized  existence. 
It  needs  life,  it  needs  direction  and  above  all  things  its 
members  need  to  be  permeated  by  a  wholesome  and  pro- 
gressive impulse  that  is  always  looking  for  something  that 


RESPONSIBILITY.  1 25 

will  make  the  world  better.  The  most  intelligent  educa- 
tors of  our  time,  and  indeed  of  all  time,  insist  on  the  su- 
perlative importance  of  developing  and  strengthening  the 
self-activity  of  every  child  in  order  that  conduct  in  after 
life  may  be  wisely  directed  toward  useful  ends.  We  do 
not  surrender  our  individuality  when  we  make  up  our 
minds  to  submit  to  wise  leadership;  but  we  ought  to  un- 
derstand clearly  whither  we  are  led  and  by  what  means. 

They  only  are  free  whom  the  truth  makes  free.  What 
precious  word  liberty  is!  How  men  have  fought  for  it 
and  suffered  for  it  and  died  for  it!  How  they  have  en- 
dured chains  and  darkness  and  misery  for  themselves  in 
the  hope  that  those  who  came  after  them  might  enjoy  its 
blessings !  There  is  probably  no  ideal  good  for  which  men 
have  so  valiantly  striven  as  for  liberty. 

No  one  will  deny  that  we  have  this  blessing  in  abun- 
dance. We  have  all  the  liberty  we  can  use,  all  the  liberty 
we  can  ever  hope  for,  but  few  know  how  to  make  the  most 
of  it.  Here  is  a  lesson  we  have  yet  to  learn.  It  seems 
that  the  great  majority  of  mankind  is  so  constructed  that 
it  must  have  masters.  If  they  are  not  born  under  one 
they  soon  make  one  for  themselves;  and  so  it  comes  that 
many  barter  away  by  their  own  choice  or  in  ignorance  the 
birthright  which  is  the  open  sesame  to  all  that  makes  hu- 
man life  worth  living.  If  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  can 
teach  men  anything  it  must  teach  them  the  right  use  of 
liberty.  It  must  teach  every  man  to  think  for  himself, 
to  act  for  himself — in  short  to  make  the  best  possible  use 
of  his  manhood,  not  merely  for  himself  but  for  others. 

Probably  every  thoughtful  person  is  at  times  attacked 
with  a  feeling  of  despondency.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  a 
certain  kind  of  pessimism  in  the  social  atmosphere.  It  is 
not  necessarily  an  unwholesome  feeling,  nor  do  I  believe. 


126  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

that  characters  of  coarse  fiber  are  subject  to  it.  It  usually 
arises  in  minds  constituted  like  that  of  Hamlet,  of  whom 
a  recent  critic  says,  "Intellectually  and  morally  he  is  much 
in  advance  of  his  age  his  mind  casting  far  onward  to  an 
era  of  purer,  richer,  brighter  civilization.  He  conceives  a 
mold  of  statesmanship,  a  style  of  public  order,  and  a  tone 
of  social  converse,  such  as  the  times  afford  no  example  of. 
The  coarse  and  brutal  manners  of  his  nation,  infecting 
even  the  court,  he  both  scorns  and  deplores,  and  this  on 
grounds  of  taste,  of  policy,  of  honor  and  of  right.  And 
the  effects  which  such  things  have  on  national  character 
and  well  being  are  discoursed  by  him  with  rare  discern- 
ment and  reach  of  thought.  His  mind  is  indeed  pene- 
trated with  the  best  efficacies  of  Christian  morality  and 
refinement."  When  we  find  ourselves  in  the  clutches  of  a 
feeling  of  discouragement  we  will  do  well  to  remember 
several  things.  We  are  not  responsible  for  the  affairs  of 
this  world  or  for  any  considerable  portion  of  them,  but 
only  in  some  measure  for  that  small  part  that  comes  within 
the  circle  of  our  influence.  Perhaps  our  aspirations  are 
not  as  unselfish  as  we  would  like  to  make  ourselves  believe. 
Those  who  oppose  us  or  are  indifferent  or  disagree  with  us 
are  sometimes  at  least  just  as  unselfish  as  we  are.  I  am 
persuaded,  too,  that  the  larger  our  knowledge  the  more  thor- 
ough our  acquaintance  with  the  past,  the  less  reason  we 
have  for  discouragement.  I  have  great  faith  in  honest  and 
fearless  self-examination.  St.  Paul  enunciated  a  great 
truth  when  he  wrote  to  the  Corinthians:  "Examine  your- 
selves, prove  yourselves,"  and,  "Let  a  man  examine  him- 
self." The  greatest  of  all  moral  philosophers  used  to  say 
to  his  friends  that  an  unexamined  life  was  not  worth  liv- 
ing; and  he  always  strove  to  regulate  his  conduct  by  the 
best  light  he  had.  In  fact  he  made  his  whole  life  a  study 


RESPONSIBILITY.  127 

of  this,  to  him,  all-absorbing  question.  Whenever  a  life 
is  not  guided  by  reason  and  controlled  by  the  will  it  sinka 
to  the  level  of  that  of  the  brute. 

While  almost  every  adult,  especially  in  a  democracy,  is  in 
some  respects  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  his  fellow-men, 
he  is  in  a  much  larger  degree  responsible  for  his  own. 
Neither  God  nor  man  expects  anybody  to  do  what  is  beyond 
his  power,  but  both  have  a  right  to  expect  us  to  do  our  best 
and  not  only  to  live  up  to  the  measure  of  the  light  we  have, 
but  always  to  seek  for  more.  Goethe's  last  words,  "More 
light,"  make  an  excellent  motto  to  put  before  ourselves  at 
the  beginning  of  our  lives  to  be  kept  before  ourselves  al- 
ways. We  ought  to  be  unsparing  critics  of  ourselves, — 
more  unsparing  than  of  anybody  else.  Only  by  being  such 
can  we  continue  to  grow  in  knowledge  and  wisdom  to  the 
end  of  our  earthly  existence.  Wisdom  is  the  principal 
thing  and  wisdom  is  acquired  only  by  that  careful  observa- 
tion and  experience  that  we  ought  to  incorporate  into  our 
earthly  existence.  I  once  heard  a  man  say:  "Don't  tell 
me  what  I  was;  tell  me  what  I  am."  The  justness  of  his 
remark  has  impressed  me  more  and  more  the  longer  I  have 
meditated  upon  it.  But  it  has  no  meaning  for  those  who 
in  early  life  become  confirmed  and  fixed  in  their  modes  of 
thought,  whether  they  be  good  or  evil.  He  is  a  rare  man 
who  can  listen  dispassionately  to  a  disagreeable  truth  when 
it  affects  himself,  his  friends  or  his  country.  How  often 
has  it  happened  that  men  have  vigorously  and  even  pas- 
sionately defended  measures  which  they  had  denounced 
with  equal  heat  when  advocated  by  their  opponents.  See 
how  King  David's  anger  flared  up  against  the  man  who 
had  been  guilty  of  the  abominable  deed  which  Nathan  re- 
ported to  him,  little  thinking  that  he  was  uttering  his  own 
death-warrant  when  he  said :  "As  the  Lord  liveth,  the  man 


128  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

that  hath  done  this  thing  shall  surely  die."  "The  grandeur 
of  man's  nature  turns  to  insignificance  all  outward  dis- 
tinction. His  power  of  intellect,  of  love,  of  knowing  God, 
of  perceiving  the  beautiful,  of  acting  on  his  own  mind,  on 
outward  nature  and  on  his  fellow-creatures, — these  are  hia 
glorious  prerogatives.  Through  the  vulgar  error  of  under- 
valuing what  is  common,  we  are  apt,  indeed,  to  pass  them 
by  as  of  little  worth.  But  as  in  the  outward  creation,  so  in 
the  soul,  the  common  is  the  most  precious.  Science  and 
art  may  invent  splendid  modes  of  illuminating  the  apart- 
ments of  the  opulent ;  but  these  are  all  poor  and  worthless 
compared  with  the  light  which  the  sun  sends  into  our  win- 
dows which  he  pours  impartially  over  hill  and  valley, 
which  kindles  daily  the  eastern  and  western  sky;  and  so 
the  common  light  of  reason,  and  conscience,  and  love,  are 
of  more  worth  and  dignity  than  the  rare  endowments  which 
give  celebrity  to  a  few."  . 

In  most  of  the  more  ancient  cities  of  the  Old  World 
stand  churches  and  cathedrals  that  were  erected  many  cen- 
turies ago.  Of  but  a  few  the  architects  who  planned  and 
builded  them  are  known  by  name,  while  the  thousands  who 
carried  out  their  grand  conceptions  are  long  since  buried 
in  oblivion.  But  their  works  are  the  beautiful  and  abiding 
symbol  of  the  faith  of  those  who  conceived  and  erected 
them.  They  are  the  visible  and  tangible  expression  of  that 
belief  in  a  higher  power  that  is  common  to  all  mankind; 
and  of  the  faith  that  mortal  men  are  the  chosen  instru- 
ments through  which  its  designs 'are  executed.  They  are 
mute  but  eloquent  witnesses  to  the  universal  conviction 
that  our  life  and  our  labor  should  at  least  in  part  be  de- 
voted to  the  spiritual  good  of  the  generations  yet  unborn. 
The  lowliest  and  weakest  mortal  who  did  no  more  than 
contribute  a  single  stone  to  their  solid  walls  contributed 


RESPONSIBILITY.  129 

somewhat  to  their  strength  and  symmetry — something 
without  which  they  would  have  lacked  entire  completeness. 
So  it  is  the  high  privilege  of  every  one  of  us  to  exert  some 
influence  without  which  the  world  would  not  be  quite 
what  it  is.  Happy,  thrice  happy  are  they  of  whom  it  can 
be  truthfully  said  what  was  said  of  the  woman  of  Bethany : 
"She  hath  wrought  a  good  work ;  she  hath  done  what  she 
could." 


PATKIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP. 

"History  must  not  keep  silent  because  history  is  the  con- 
science of  humanity;  and  let  those  understand  who  do  not 
fear  it  that  its  justice  can  not  be  appeased  and  that  its 
castigations  are  without  end."  These  words  were  used  by 
the  late  eminent  publicist  Castelar  in  a  comment  upon  one 
of  the  worst  kings  that  ever  sat  upon  the  Spanish  throne, 
but  they  are  of  universal  validity.  No  one  who  has  care- 
fully studied  the  past  will  deny  their  truthfulness.  His- 
tory is  nothing  more  than  amplified  biography  and  those 
who  made  it  were  men  of  like  passions  with  ourselves.  It 
is  more  truly  the  conscience  of  the  world  than  the  con- 
science which  every  man  is  supposed  to  carry  in  his  bosom. 
I  may  intentionally  wrong  my  neighbor  and  succeed  in 
justifying  my  conduct.  At  any  rate  it  is  but  an  incident 
between  two  individuals  and  is  soon  forgotten.  When  my 
father  of  my  grandfather  has,  by  any  act,  left  a  stain 
upon  his  memory,  though  I  can  not  blot  it  out,  I  may  ex- 
cuse it  as  well  as  I  can.  But  that  does  not  alter  the  case; 
the  deed  is  done,  the  final  record  made  up,  the  books  are 
sealed.  Still,  this  is  not  a  matter  about  which  the  larger 
public  is  concerned.  But  when  I  move  into  a  wider  sphere 
and  see  weighed  before  the  tribunal  of  morals  the  acts  for 
which  my  country  is  responsible  I  can  neither  conceal  nor 

(130) 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP. 


successfully  justify  what  is  wrong.  The  evil  deeds  in 
which  I  am,  at  least  by  implication,  a  participant,  can  not 
be  concealed  from  the  curious  eye  of  the  future  investi- 
gator. My  ancestors,  my  government,  my  country  were 
guilty  of  wrongs  that  I  may  condone  but  the  disinterested 
reader  will  not.  There  exist  archives  centuries  old  to 
which  even  at  this  late  day  no  one  is  allowed  access.  Their 
custodians  seem  to  feel  that  they  are  involved  in  the  guilt 
of  the  evil-doers,  though  they  are  connected  with  them  by 
the  slenderest  ties,  perhaps  only  by  the  bond  of  a  common 
creed  or  a  common  country.  It  is  like  the  mature  man 
trying  to  cover  up  the  sins  and  follies  of  his  youth,  though 
it  is  much  more  unavailing. 

Nearly  two  thousand  years  ago  Plutarch  justified  the 
calamities  that  sometimes  befell  states  for  the  wicked  deeds 
of  previous  generations.  Said  he,  "The  public  calamities 
of  states  have  obviously  their  reason  in  justice.  For  a 
state  has  unity  and  continuity  like  a  living  creature,  not 
divesting  itself  of  indentity  by  the  changes  that  occur  at 
successive  periods  of  its  life,  nor  becoming  a  different  being 
from  its  former  self  by  the  lapse  of  time,  but  always  retain- 
ing a  conscious  selfhood  with  the  peculiarities  that  be- 
long to  it,  and  receiving  the  entire  blame  or  praise  of 
whatever  it  does  or  has  done  in  its  collective  capacity,  so 
long  as  the  community  which  constitutes  it  and  binds  it 
together  remains  a  unit.  But  dividing  it  by  successive 
periods  of  time  so  as  to  make  of  a  single  state  many  states. 
or  rather  an  infinite  number  of  states,  is  like  making  one 
man  many  men,  because  he  is  now  elderly,  yet  was  once 
younger  and  still  earlier  was  a  stripling.  The  state  re- 
maining the  same  we  regard  it  as  involved  in  the  disgrace 
of  its  ancestry  by  the  very  right  by  which  it  shares  their 
glory  and  their  power." 


WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 


Every  man  instinctively  feels  that  he  is  more  or  less 
closely  bound  up  in  moral  sense  with  his  family,  with 
the  community  of  which  he  forms  a  part,  with  the  govern- 
ment of  which  he  is  a  citizen.  When  I  hold  up  to  an  in- 
telligent Englishman,  the  shortsightedness  of  his  govern- 
ment at  certain  periods  of  the  past,  or  to  a  wide-awake 
Frenchman  the  follies  that  have  characterized  his  ances- 
tors in  their  mad  quest  for  what  they  called  gloire,  or  to 
a  well-read  Teuton  the  pusillanimity  of  the  German  people 
for  centuries,  they  usually  admit  the  truth  of  the  indict- 
ment, but  they  have  a  ready  answer  by  pointing  to  the  po- 
litical corruption  that  has  hung  over  our  land  like  a  pall 
for  nobody  knows  how  long;  to  our  frequent  lynchings; 
to  our  repudiation  of  state  and  municipal  debts;  to  our 
toleration  of  human  slavery  for  a  century;  to  our  unjust 
war  with  Mexico,  and  more  of  the  same  sort.  Then  I  have 
little  to  say,  but  I  can  heartily  join  with  my  interlocutors 
in  the  wish  that  these  things  were  none  of  them  so.  Or 
we  may  all  join  in  the  pharisaical  congratulation  that  we 
are  not  so  bad  as  the  Spaniards,  or  the  Turks,  or  as  a  last 
resort,  the  Malays.  Under  such  circumstances  one  is 
often  inclined  to  take  refuge  in  the  philosophy  of  the  Arab, 
who,  when  charged  with  being  a  notorious  thief  and  -.in- 
mitigated  liar,  retorted  that  if  a  man  had  only  two  or  three 
faults  he  was  not  very  bad.  Let  us  not  forget  that  na- 
tional glory  will  not  take  the  place  of  national  character. 
The  former  may  and  is  pretty  sure  to  be  transient  if  not 
founded  on  the  latter.  The  true  glory  of  a  nation  is  not 
something  that  needs  to  be  boasted  of.  For  centuries 
Frenchmen  have  been  asserting  that  France  marches  at 
the  head  of  civilization.  They  were  so  conscious  of  their 
superiority  that  they  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  ex- 
amine what  their  neighbors  were  doing  and  refused  to 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP.  133 

learn  anything  from  them.  But  the  time  came  when  they 
were  disillusioned,  and  in  their  blind  rage  they  blamed 
everybody  but  themselves  for  their  discomfiture. 

In  this  discussion  it  is  permissible  to  draw  a  parallel  be- 
tween a  nation  and  an  individual.  What  do  his  neighbors 
think  of  a  man  who  prates  much  about  his  integrity  ?  The 
simplest  characters  are  the  least  boastful.  The  man  who 
is  conscious  of  his  probity  neither  parades  the  fact  in 
public  nor  feels  the  need  of  asserting  it  in  private. 

Just  now  the  leading  nations  of  the  earth  have  much  to  say 
about  new  duties  and  new  responsibilities.  It  is  at  least  a 
suspicious  coincidence  that  their  duties  and  responsibilities 
are  so  closely  connected  with  commercialism.  The  man 
who  really  wants  to  do  good  is  never  particularly  careful 
whether  he  gets  paid  for  it  in  dollars  and  cents.  Let  us 
not  forget  that  the  ethical  code  rests  on  a  few  very  simple 
and  easily  understood  principles,  whether  we  apply  it  to 
individuals  or  nations.  Men  may  flatter  themselves  that 
they  live  under  a  new  dispensation  and  that  old-fashioned 
morality  is  obsolete.  All  history  demonstrates  the  falsity 
of  this  position.  The  whole  duty  of  man  to  man  may 
be  found  in  pre-Christian  literature.  In  the  Prophet 
Micah  I  find,  "What  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee  but  to 
do  justly,  to  love  mercy  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God." 
So,  too,  we  often  read  that  "Bighteousness  exalteth  a  na- 
tion, but  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people."  Isaiah  says  the 
same  thing;  and  never  tires  of  warning  those  who  neg- 
lect these  principles.  Socrates  follows  in  the  same  strain, 
as  do  many  others,  each  in  ignorance  of  the  existence  of 
the  other,  because  they  need  only  to  observe  the  course 
of  human  events  to  deduce  the  moral  order  of  the  world. 
Justice,  humanity,  humility— here  we  have  the  whole  duty 
of  man.  In  fact  we  may  say  that  all  civilization  rests  in 


134  WI8DOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

the  persistent  effort  of  man  to  secure  justice.  It  is  at  least 
avowedly  for  the  purpose  of  securing  justice  to  every  mem- 
ber of  the  body  politic  that  all  enlightened  governments  are 
organized — justice  in  taxation,  justice  in  meting  out  re- 
wards and  punishments,  justice  in  representation,  justice 
in  the  care  of  those  who  are  not  able  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves;  justice  in  the  privilege  to  worship  the  Supreme  Be- 
ing. No  sane  man  asks  more  than  equality  of  opportunity, 
a  fair  field  and  no  favor.  Governments  have  followed  each 
other  like  the  divisions  of  an  almost  endless  procession  of 
mourners  across  the  stage  of  time  because  they  have  failed 
in  this  regard.  What  has  happened  so  many  times  will  con- 
tinue to  happen  as  long  as  man  remains  the  same  and  like 
causes  produce  like  effects.  Only  that  nation  may  safely 
claim  to  be  built  on  an  enduring  foundation  whose  civil 
machinery  is  so  constructed  to  bring  it  constantly  nearer 
and  nearer  to  that  ideal  condition  that  is  realized  only  in 
the  vision  of  the  prophet  and  the  dream  of  the  sage.  So 
profound  is  the  universal  conviction  of  the  essential  up- 
rightness of  public  opinion  that  no  man  in  his  public  ca- 
pacity has  the  courage  to  defy  it.  The  most  pronounced 
despots  have  justified  their  tyranny  by  a  liberal  patronage 
of  the  arts  and  sciences,  by  the  plea  that  the  masses  are 
not  fit  to  govern  themselves.  Sienkiewicz  in  Quo  Vadis 
thus  pays  tribute  to  the  natural  goodness  of  man :  "Bronze- 
beard  is  a  faint-hearted  cur.  Although  there  is  no  limit 
to  his  power,  he  makes  all  his  acts  appear  plausible.  I 
have  often  asked  myself  why  is  it  that  every  crime,  be  it 
as  great  as  Ceasar's  and  as  certain  of  impunity,  seeks  the 
cover  of  the  law,  of  justice  or  of  virtue?  Why  should  it 
trouble  itself  ?  Nero  seeks  to  justify  himself  because  he  is 
a  coward.  But  let  us  take  a  Tiberius.  He  was  no  coward, 
yet  he  sought  to  justify  his  every  act.  Why,  then?  What 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP.  135 

is  this  involuntary  tribute  which  evil  places  at  the  feet 
of  virtue  ?  Knowest  thou  what  I  think  ?  It  is  done  because 
vice  is  disgusting  and  virtue  divine."  We  used  to  hear 
slavery  defended  because  it  was  good  for  the  slave.  Now 
we  are  told  that  immense  armaments  are  conducive  to 
peace.  I  venture  to  assert  that  no  law  was  ever  enacted 
for  which  its  promoters  did  not  claim  that  if  it  worked 
injury  to  some  it  benefited  a  greater  number.  It  is  no 
longer  contended  by  anybody,  so  far  as  I  know,  that  a 
state  of  belligerency  is  natural  to  men,  or  that  it  repre- 
sents a  condition  upon  which  all  first-class  nations  are 
not  making  continual  inroads.  This  is  unconsciously  ad- 
mitted by  the  assertion  which  we  meet  so  often  that  the 
best  way  to  secure  permanent  peace  is  to  be  always  pre- 
pared for  war.  Apparently  hardly  anybody  wants  to  fight 
though  almost  everybody  is  in  favor  of  preparing  for  it. 
The  tendenc}"  toward  a  more  peaceful  civilization  is 
marked.  Rome  was  almost  continuously  at  war  during  the 
thousand  years  of  her  existence.  Insignificant  as  many 
of  these  wars  were  they  always  meant  a  great  deal  of  misery 
for  at  least  one  of  the  belligerents.  The  eighteenth  cen- 
tury was  ushered  in  by  war,  passed  out  in  war,  and  the 
middle  period  was  filled  with  "the  din  of  arms."  How 
different  the  nineteenth!  When  we  remember  that  the 
Napoleonic  struggle  was  an  inheritance  of  the  preceding 
century  we  must  admit  that  the  one  just  closed  was  much 
less  bloody  than  any  that  preceded  it,  far  as  we  still  are 
from  a  reign  of  peace  and  righteousness. 

Why  should  men  be  more  unreasonable  collectively  than 
individually?  Yet  they  are.  In  any  civilized  country 
when  two  men  undertake  to  settle  their  differences  with 
weapons  or  fists  they  are  promptly  arrested  and  fined. 
Usually  it  is  the  soggy  undercrust  that  has  recourse  to  vio- 


136  WISDOM  AXD  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

lence.  With  what  contempt  we  view  even  the  elite  in 
some  of  our  States  who  are  ever  ready  to  adjust  their  dif- 
ferences by  physical  force  or  it  may  be  with  revolvers.  It 
is  a  pity  we  can  not  all  read  as  often  as  once  a  year  Bacon's 
essay  on  the  idols  of  prc-conceived  opinion.  Such  a  pe- 
rusal would  do  much  to  enable  our  mental  vision  to  pen- 
etrate the  mists  of  error  that  constantly  surround  us.  Or 
we  may  change  the  figure  and  say  that  if  these  idols  were 
taken  away  we  should  have  a  clearer  vision  to  worship  the 
true  God.  About  us  and  in  us  are  the  idols  of  the  tribe, 
the  fallacies  that  are  incident  to  humanity  in  general ;  idols 
of  the  den,  the  misconceptions  that  grow  out  of  our  indi- 
vidual mental  constitution;  idols  of  the  market  place,  er- 
rors due  to  the  power  of  words  and  phrases;  idols  of  the 
theater,  errors  due  to  false  systems  and  illogical  methods 
of  reasoning.  When  we  remember  that  some  men  are  so 
constituted  that,  with  the  best  intention,  thy  can  not  see 
the  truth, — to  ask  them  to  do  so  is  like  asking  a  five-foot 
man  to  look  over  a  six-foot  wall — and  that  others  do  not 
want  to  see  it  because  of  the  labor  involved,  or  because 
they  believe  it  more  to  their  advantage  to  cling  to  error 
and  that  these  classes  embrace  the  immense  majority  of 
mankind,  we  can  not  wonder  that  the  world  is  still  largely 
dominated  by  error  and  false  reasoning. 

But,  leaving  aside  all  considerations  of  the  quest  for 
truth,  how  many  people  are  there  even  in  the  most  enlight- 
ened countries  who  devote  any  considerable  portion  of  their 
time  to  reflection  upon  what  will  make  them  wiser,  better 
nobler?  Surely  these  are  matters  that  would  seem  to  at- 
tract and  occupy  the  attention  of  all  more  or  less.  That  it 
does  not  is  because  it  is  easier  to  persist  in  the  old,  much 
as  we  may  complain  about  it,  than  to  keep  readjusting  our- 
selves to  new  conditions.  We  thoughtlessly  do  what  we 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP.  137 

have  always  done;  and  what  we  have  always  done  is  what 
our  elders  did  before  us.  If  we  are  a  little  better  in  some 
things  than  other  people  we  lay  the  nattering  unction  to 
our  souls  that  we  are  in  all  respects  their  superiors. 

Some  of  the  very  persons  who  have  only  scorn  and  con- 
tempt for  the  people  of  those  countries  or  States  of  the 
Union  who  readily  resort  to  arms  when  they  have  a  dis- 
pute with  another  man  will  almost  in  the  same  breath 
hurrah  over  the  prospect  of  war  between  the  United  States 
and  some  foreign  country,  especially  Great  Britain.  When 
we  ask  them  for  the  cause  of  their  hilarity  they  can  give 
no  reason  except  that  we  can  "lick"  England  and  all  crea- 
tion and  we  want  a  chance  to  prove  it.  We  can  settle  our 
private  difficulties  before  courts  of  law  and  we  scoff  at  those 
of  our  neighbors  who  can  not  settle  theirs  in  the  same  way ; 
yet  many  of  us  do  not  want  to  adjust  our  disagreements  in 
this  manner  when  we  have  a  quarrel  with  another  nation, 
though  it  may  speak  the  same  language,  be  proud  of  the 
same  political  traditions,  and  lay  claim  to  the  same  litera- 
ture. 

It  is  true  a  court  of  law  is  not  exactly  a  peaceful  tribunal 
like  a  court  of  arbitration.  Behind  it  is  in  most  cases 
physical  force  as  a  last  resort,  but  this  is  always  in  the 
background.  Moral  force  has  in  most  instances  taken  its 
place.  And  what  an  advance  is  a  court  of  law  upon  con- 
ditions that  prevailed  very  widely  at  one  time.  Gentlemen 
settled  their  disputes  by  strength  and  skill.  Perish  the 
thought  that  they  could  be  settled  in  any  other  way.  Yet 
these  honorable  men  have  almost  disappeared  from  the 
earth  and  will  soon  be  little  more  than  a  curiosity  or  an 
object  of  ridicule. 

All  history  is  but  the  history  of  civilization.  This  is 
a  hard  term  to  define,  yet  everybody  knows  what  it  signi- 


138  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

fies.  Not  only  is  it  a  struggle  of  the  more  advanced  peo- 
ple against  the  less  advanced,  but  of  the  conservative  indi- 
vidual against  progress.  We  see  it  in  our  cities  and  our 
towns  no  less  than  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The 
tenement  house  problem  is  but  one  of  its  phases.  The 
legal  principle  of  eminent  domain  is  another,  and  there  are 
many  more.  The  lust  of  conquest  that  led  the  Romans  to 
add  province  to  province  is  as  active  now  as  it  ever  was.  If 
they  provided  a  better  government  than  they  destroyed 
their  course  was  in  a  measure  at  least  justifiable.  But  it 
is  doubtful  if  the  lust  of  conquest  is  ever  a  moral  motive, 
though  it  almost  always  parades  under  a  masque  of  moral- 
ity. The  Romans  did  not  conquer  provinces,  they  only 
gave  them  peace.  The  Spaniards  and  the  French,  their  de- 
scendants, coveted  new  lands  in  order  that  they  might  con- 
vert the  heathen  to  Christianity.  The  Anglo-Saxon  and 
the  Teuton  are  a  little  more  matter  of  fact,  but  they  rarely 
admit  that  conquest  is  for  the  good  of  the  conquerors 
mainly.  All  this  proves  the  innate  faith  the  world  has 
always  had  in  moral  ideas.  Even  in  private  transactions 
between  man  and  man  the  party  of  the  first  part  never  ad- 
mits that  he  seeks  his  own  advantage  only.  He  would  have 
it  appear  that  he  gives  more  than  he  takes. 

It  is  by  political  methods  that  moral  ideas  are  propa- 
gated. They  can  not  move  forward  alone.  Security  to 
life  and  property  is  a  political  guarantee  whether  at  home 
or  abroad.  This  guaranty  is  often  unjust  but  it  is  sound, 
How  can  we  justify  the  protection  afforded  to  a  merchant 
or  a  missionary  by  the  home  government  in  a  foreign  land 
where  he  is  not  wanted?  Why  do  we  blame  the  Chinese 
for  keeping  their  ports  closed  to  Europeans  and  why  do 
we  regard  it  as  creditable  to  them  that  after  centuries  of  ef- 
fort they  opened  a  few?  You  find  the  sentiment  in  every 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP.  139 

country  of  the  world  only  not  quite  so  pronounced.  This  is 
the  practical  side  of  politics,  hut  the  converse  and  senti- 
mental sides  demand  for  every  man  equal  treatment  with 
every  other.  Our  Federal  and  State  courts  forbid  the  pas- 
sage of  laws  that  are  not  of  general  application,  but  in 
practice  we  have  many  such  laws.  Here  sentiment  and 
practice  are  again  in  conflict  and  here,  too,  there  is  a  steady 
effort  to  reconcile  them.  It  is  a  common  saying  that 
facts  and  events  are  more  powerful  than  theories.  Those 
who  reason  thus  have  a  short  vision.  If  this  were  true 
we  might  well  exclaim,  "Right  forever  on  the  scaffold. 
Wrong  forever  on  the  throne."  See  how  this  dictum  has 
been  proven  false !  Might  has  indeed  often  prevailed  over 
right,  but  it  has  not  continued  unless  it  justified  itself. 
Slavery  and  serfdom  have  not  been  abolished  wholly  or 
even  chiefly  by  might,  but  by  the  sentiment  of  mankind 
The  theory  of  equal  rights  before  the  law  was  for  centuries 
the  main  support  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Governments 
are  at  last  beginning  to  put  in  practice  the  theories  of  edu- 
cation advocated  by  Greek  thinkers  and  demonstrated  by 
a  few  individuals.  For  centuries  the  civilized  world,  the 
most  civilized  nations  have  been  trying  to  make  real  the 
ethical  theories  preached  by  the  Hebrew  prophets  and  the 
Christian  Apostles.  How  little  the  Jews  have  figured  in 
the  politics  of  the  world,  how  large  in  its  morals,  what  an 
epic  is  their  annals !  What  a  mark  they  have  made  in  his- 
tory and  are  still  making,  but  it  is  through  the  arts  of 
peace.  No  people  have  so  profoundly  influenced  the 
thought  of  the  world  as  they,  none  can  boast  of  such  endur- 
ing achievements,  yet  these  achievements  have  almost  all 
been  peaceful.  "In  order  to  get  rid  of  war  we  must  make 
peace  heroic."  The  chief  glory  of  Washington  was  not  so 
much  that  he  was  first  in  war  but  first  in  peace.  The 


140  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

"strenuous  life"  of  which  we  have  been  hearing  so  much 
may  be  spent  in  activities  less  dashing  but  not  less  useful 
than  in  fighting.  Nations  willingly  pay  enormous  sums  for 
war — why  should  they  not  be  even  more  willing  to  pay 
as  much  to  maintain  peace  ?  It  is  not  idle  to  speculate  on 
what  might  have  been  the  course  of  history  if  the  alterna- 
tives of  past  events  are  used  as  lessons  for  the  future. 
What  might  we  not  do,  what  might  not  any  people  have 
done,  if  their  youth  could  have  been  made  to  believe  iu 
the  strenuous  self-denial,  the  splendid  patience,  the  mu- 
tual reliance,  the  daring,  the  endurance,  the  honor  that  go 
to  make  a  nation  great  in  its  internal  resources.  If  the 
man  who  makes  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew 
before  is  a  public  benefactor,  surely  he  is  equally  so  who 
makes  one  blade  go  twice  as  far  as  it  went  before  in  all 
that  pertains  to  the  welfare  of  a  nation.  In  our  impulsive- 
ness the  spectacular  appeals  to  us  too  strongly.  "Heroic  ac- 
tivity makes  instant  appeal.  To  do  away  with  war  we 
have  got  to  make  the  sacrifice  of  peace  equally  noble. 
Mothers,  teachers,  preachers,  poets  have  got  to  strengthen 
the  new  ideals  that  some  men  have  always  cherished  and 
most  men  cherish  even  now  in  their  calmer  moments. 
Common  life  must  be  shown  to  be  just  as  heroic  and  just 
as  arduous  as  war,  calling  for  just  as  great  physical  en- 
durance, just  as  powerful  mental  and  moral  qualities." 
"If  the  past  is  not  to  bind  us,  where  can  duty  lie?  We 
should  have  no  law  but  the  inclination  of  the  moment." 

It  has  been  said  over  and  over  again  that  the  reason  why 
China  makes  no  progress  is  because  her  people  have  no 
sentiment,  no  ideals,  nothing  before  them  or  behind  them 
except  the  plain  dead  prose  of  practical  every  day  life. 
The  Chinaman  of  one  province  does  not  care  what  his  fel- 
low in  the  next  province  is  doing  or  suffering,  so  he  him- 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP.  141 

self  has  enough  to  eat.  A  most  competent  authority  says : 
"The  only  Chinese  in  the  Empire  who  ar^  alert,  inquiring, 
eager  to  know  what  the  world  is  doing,  and  especially  what 
China  and  the  rulers  of  Peking  are  thinking  of,  are  the 
converts, — that  is,  the  pupils  of  the  missionaries  or  of  those 
intelligent  foreigners  who  have  some  other  care  concern- 
ing the  Chinese  servants  than  mere  exaction  of  labor  and 
payment  of  wages.  Out  of  Chinese  official  life  or  from  the 
literati  it  seems  impossible  to  get  honesty  or  virtue  in  any 
vital  sense.  The  earnest,  the  thinking  men  of  China  know 
that  her  vital  lack  is  neither  capital  nor  machinery,  but 
men.  They  realize  that  the  Chinese  system  does  not  pro- 
duce men  of  conscience  or  of  sterling  character.  They 
know  that  it  has  hitherto  been  impossible  to  secure  any 
such  persons,  except  by  importation.  How  can  it  be  other- 
wise in  the  future?"  In  the  same  connection  another 
writer,  speaking  of  Morocco,  says:  "It  is  a  popular  cus- 
tom of  travelers  to  disparage  missionaries.  Let  their  work 
be  difficult,  their  faith  a  mockery  to  those  who  share  it  not. 
their  object  hopeless,  their  achievement  insignificant,  or. 
it  may  be,  illusory,  their  faults  apparent,  their  methods 
absurd;  the  missionaries,  of  whatever  creed,  are  the  noble 
few  who  live  for  the  future,  and  no  seed  that  they  sow  is 
lost.  Every  pure  and  earnest  life,  whether  by  a  missionary 
or  by  any  other,  will  tell  on  the  nation." 

It  is  an  established  fact  that  the  lower  forms  of  animal 
life  which  first  appeared  on  our  globe  have  all  disappeared 
or  have  been  greatly  modified  in  their  structure  to  suit  the 
changing  physical  conditions.  Even  those  that  belonged 
to  a  somewhat  higher  order  have  for  the  most  part  become 
extinct.  The  huge  beasts,  strong  of  limb  and  irresistible 
in  physical  force  that  are  the  wonder  of  our  museums, 
destroyed  or  devoured  the  weaker  ones  until  they  them- 


142  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

selves  were  cleared  from  the  face  of  the  earth  by  forces 
too  strong  for  them.  With  all  their  strength  they  could 
not  arrest  the  physical  changes  that  were  inevitable.  Un- 
able to  suit  themselves  to  circumstances  they  paid  the  debt 
of  nature.  With  men  the  course  of  events  has  been  simi- 
lar. They  followed  into  the  dark  recesses  of  oblivion 
the  beasts  with  which  successive  generations  contended. 
The  mighty  empires  of  the  earth  that  were  in  the  course  of 
time  established  form  no  exception.  Force  was  swept 
from  the  earth  by  greater  force,  for  especially  in  the 
psychic  world  it  is  not  force  unaided  by  intelligence  that 
wins  in  the  end.  The  great  states  of  antiquity  were  strong 
so  long  as  they  represented  power  that  could  be  hurled 
against  weaker  rivals,  who  were  in  turn  either  crushed  or 
absorbed.  We  are  scarcely  in  position  to  say  why  those 
mighty  empires  that  once  existed  in  Mesopotamia  and  the 
Nile  Valley  have  so  completely  disappeared.  And  while 
we  may  regret  the  destruction  of  so  many  valuable  works 
of  art  it  is  doubtful  if  anything  of  real  use  to  the  human 
race  has  perished.  They  represent  the  degradation  of  man 
rather  than  his  elevation.  Greece  stood  for  a  higher  type 
of  civilization,  but  a  lower  type  of  patriotism  and  her 
statement  looked  so  closely  to  the  immediate  future  that 
they  failed  to  recognize  the  claims  of  a  remoter  future. 
The  Romans  were  wiser,  and  yet  not  much  wiser.  As  long 
as  they  considered  the  state  more  important  than  the  indi- 
vidual they  kept  growing  stronger  and  stronger.  There 
was  an  idealism  in  their  politics  that  we  of  to-day  can  not 
help  but  admire.  Yet  this  condition  of  things  likewise 
passed  away.  Factions  were  generated  in  the  state  that 
were  more  bent  upon  the  destruction  of  their  opponents 
than  upon  the  good  of  the  citizens  as  a  whole. 

If  there  is  one  thing  that  modern  research  has  estab- 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP. 


lished  beyond  a  doubt  it  is  the  solidarity  of  history.  We 
may  for  convenience  speak  of  Ancient  History  and  Medi- 
aeval History  and  Modern  History,  but  the  making  of  his- 
tory is  a  continuous  process.  No  new  forces  have  been 
introduced  in  the  world  ;  the  relations  of  the  various  forces 
have  to  some  extent  been  changed,  but  no  new  ones  have 
been  added.  Just  as  the  adult  is  not  something  radically 
different  from  the  child,  though  he  bears  to  it  only  the 
slightest  resemblance  in  feature,  form  and  figure,  so  the 
race  is  to-day  what  it  always  has  been.  Sometimes  when 
a  man  is  dead  an  autopsy  reveals  that  fact  that  his  dis- 
ease was  incurable.  There  was  no  human  help  for  the 
victim.  As  an  individual,  with  his  separate  physical  ex- 
istence he  could  draw  no  support  from  his  fellow-beings. 
But  how  often  has  it  happened  that  physicians  in  learning 
the  cause  of  one  man's  death  discovered  how  to  save  those 
similarly  afflicted  !  Not  so  with  states.  They  have  never 
died  of  physical  but  of  moral  diseases,  and  the  fact  that 
we  know  the  causes  ought  to  admonish  us  to  look  to  our- 
selves. The  Hebrew  prophets  foretold  the  woes  that  were 
sure  to  come  upon  their  nation  unless  they  changed  their 
ways.  But  the  men  who  for  the  most  part  managed  af- 
fairs ignored  these  solitary  theorists.  They  probably  said, 
if  they  thought  them  worthy  of  consideration  at  all,  "You 
are  idealists;  this  is  a  practical  world.  You  must  take 
men  as  they  are."  Woe  to  the  world  if  this  be  so  !  If  all 
the  efforts  to  make  men  better  by  instructing  the  rising 
generation  ends  in  the  maxim,  "You  must  take  men  as  they 
are,"  our  doom  is  sealed. 

Everybody  that  can  read  knows  something  about  Demos- 
thenes and  Cicero.  Both  these  men  were  victims  of  a  lost 
cause.  But  in  one  respect  they  were  superior,  and  in  one 
only,  to  the  great  orators  among  their  countrymen  ;  in  the 


144  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

moral  earnestness  that  pervades  their  political  orations. 
Edmund  Burke  was  likewise  the  champion  of  a  lost  cause 
when  he  espoused  the  side  of  the  American  colonies.  His 
plea  for  right,  for  justice,  for  fair  treatment,  passed  al- 
most unheeded,  hut  time  has  vindicated  the  wisdom  of  his 
course.  I  imagine  there  are  few  Englishmen  to-day  who 
would  not  rather  have  stood  with  Burke  and  Chatham,  and 
lost,  than  with  George  III.  and  Lord  North,  though  they 
won  for  the  time  being.  In  speaking  of  these  events  a  re- 
cent English  historian  says:  "The  shame  of  the  darkest 
hour  of  English  history  lies  wholly  at  the  door"  of  the 
king.  There  are  two  senses  in  which  we  may  use  the 
maxim,  You  must  take  world  as  it  is.  In  the  one  we  sim- 
ply accept  the  situation  and  regard  existing  conditions 
with  indifference.  Like  the  servile  herd  that  flattered  the 
basest  of  the  Roman  emperors,  and  their  numerous  repre- 
sentatives in  later  times,  we  may  do  the  best  we  can  to 
live  at  ease  from  day  to  day,  taking  no  thought  for  the  fu- 
ture. In  the  other,  we  recognize  surrounding  conditions, 
but  keep  bestirring  ourselves  to  make  them  better.  This 
is  the  purpose  of  every  moral  agency  that  has  for  its  ob- 
ject the  betterment  of  men.  It  is  the  soul  and  essence  of 
pedagogy.  Amplified,  it  applies  to  the  body  politic  the 
same  principles  that  right  instruction  applies  to  the  child. 
Every  intelligently  constructed  educational  system  means, 
Take  the  child  and  make  of  him  the  best  of  which  he  is 
capable.  So  instruct  him  that  each  generation  shall  be 
better,  wiser,  nobler,  than  its  predecessor.  Teach  him  to 
obey  existing  laws  and  to  labor  for  the  enactment  of  better 
ones.  Let  him  strive  to  defend  his  own  rights  and  to  ac- 
cord the  same  rights  to  others. 

We  often  hear  a  defense  of  the  maxim,  "My  country 
right  or  wrong."     What  are  we  to  understand  by  my  coun- 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP.  145 

try  in  this  sense?  Is  it  her  institutions,  her  policy,  her 
standard  of  morals,  her  laws  ?  If  so,  who  is  responsible  for 
them?  Is  not  every  thinking  man  dissatisfied  more  or 
less  with  his  country  ?  Is  any  one  so  well  satisfied  that  he 
does  not  criticize  and  seek  to  make  improvements  ?  If  im- 
provements are  not  held  to  be  necessary  the  country  has 
come  to  a  standstill  like  China.  True  patriotism  consists 
not  so  much  in  maintaining  that  we  have  the  best  and  are 
the  best  as  in  an  open  mind  for  what  is  good  and  a  deter- 
mination to  have  it.  There  is  a  kind  of  patriotism  that  is 
a  sign  of  decay;  it  is  evidence  that  the  career  of  a  nation 
is  drawing  to  a  close.  The  golden  age  of  Greek  oratory 
was  an  era  of  decline.  When  there  was  little  to  commend 
in  the  present  men  looked  to  the  past  for  examples  of  hero- 
ism and  self-sacrifice.  We  often  see  the  same  sort  of  pride 
in  families.  When  the  generation  th.at  is  on  the  scene  of 
action  is  doing  little  to  commend  it,  its  representatives  are 
apt  to  boast  about  the  abilities  and  achievements  of  their 
ancestors.  Yet  what  is  this  worth  if  there  is  no  disposition 
to  do  likewise?  It  seems  strange,  inexplicably  strange, 
that  it  is  so  hard  to  look  facts  squarely  in  the  face.  Dur- 
ing our  late  war  with  Spain,  Continental  Europe  was 
against  us  almost  to  a  man.  It  was  a  case  of  "Kick  my 
dog,  kick  me."  The  merits  of  the  case  scarcely  entered 
into  the  discussion  at  all.  Spain  was  near  by  and  a  mon- 
archy, the  United  States  far  away  and  a  Republic;  of 
course  the  latter  was  in  the  wrong  and  it  was  not  worth 
while  to  look  into  the  merits  of  the  controversy.  In  four 
cases  out  of  five  you  can  predict  with  certainty  on  which 
side  the  recent  South  African  war  a  man's  sympathies 
were  if  you  know  his  ancestry. 

We  need  not  go   very  far  into  the  past  to  see  the  melan- 
choly effect  of  political  short-sightedness.     Less  than  four 

10 


146  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

hundred  years  ago  Poland  occupied  a  large  place  on  the 
map  of  Europe.  With  its  thirty-five  million  inhabitants 
it  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  states  of  the  world.  A 
hundred  years  later,  though  much  diminished,  it  was  still 
strong.  No  longer  ago  than  the  time  of  our  Eevolution  it 
yet  numbered  twelve  million  people.  Since  then  it  has 
ceased  to  be  a  nation.  There  is  a  Polish  people,  but  there 
is  no  citizen  of  Poland.  Every  Pole,  whether  at  home  or 
abroad  is  in  a  sense  an  exile.  Campbell  said.  "Freedom 
shrieked  when  Kosciusko  fell,"  but  whatever  we  may  think 
of  Kosciusko  and  a  few  genuine  patriots,  their  cause  was 
doomed  from  the  start.  It  deserved  no  better  fate.  The 
freedom  for  which  too  many  Poles  fought  was  simply  lib- 
erty to  make  war  against  one  another,  to  plunder  one  an- 
other. It  was  not  patriotism,  but  selfishness.  Alison,  the 
historian,  after  quoting  the  line  of  Campbell  continues, 
"But  the  truth  of  history  must  dispel  the  illusion  and  un- 
fold in  the  fall  of  Poland  the  natural  consequences  of  its 
national  delinquencies.  The  eldest  born  of  the  European 
family  was  the  first  to  perish  because  she  had  thwarted  all 
the  ends  of  the  social  union ;  because  she  united  the  turbu- 
lence of  democratic  to  the  exclusion  of  aristocratic  socie- 
ties ;  because  she  had  the  vacillation  of  a  republic  with- 
out its  energy,  and  the  oppression  of  a  monarchy  without 
its  stability.  Such  a  system  neither  could  nor  ought  to 
be  maintained." 

How  different  is  the  history  of  Switzerland  in  spite 
of  many  dark  pages! 

Even  if  the  individual  be  nothing  more  than  a  link  in 
the  chain  of  human  endeavor  his  efforts  will  not  be  in  vain, 
if  intelligently  directed.  We  need  not  ask  ourselves 
whether  we  are  heirs  to  a  personal  immortality.  A  clear 
grasp  of  this  doctrine  answers  the  question  for  every  man 


PATRIOTISM  AMD  PARTISANSHIP.  147 

who  desires  to  deserve  well  of  his  country  or  of  the  race. 
It  is  not  the  immortality  of  the  mere  time-server  who  is 
content  with  the  maxim  "Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to- 
morrow we  die."  "The  chief  impulses  of  progressive  na- 
tions are  abstract  ideas  and  ideals,  unreal  and  unrealizable, 
and  it  is  in  the  pursuit  of  these  that  the  great  as  well 
as  the  small  movements  on  the  arena  of  national  life  and 
on  the  stage  of  history  have  taken  place." 

Let  us  take  an  example  of  a  purely  material  kind.  If  a 
man  sets  out  to  accumulate  a  fortune  of  a  million  dollars, 
does  all  that  he  gains  count  for  nothing  until  he  has 
reached  the  goal  ?  One  dollar  is  already  something  toward 
the  end  he  has  in  view ;  ten  thousand  dollars  are  something 
more,  a  hundred  thousand  a  great  deal  more.  But  if  he 
saves  nothing  or  gets  into  debt  he  is  going  in  the  wrong 
direction,  just  as  that  man  in  the  community  is  who  not 
only  contributes  nothing  to  the  welfare  of  the  community, 
but  who  subtracts  something  from  it,  who  is  a  hindrance  to 
its  progress.  Ideas  are  living  forces  that  persistently  strive 
toward  realization  in  fact.  Where  such  ideas  do  not  exist, 
or  where  they  are  not  intelligently  directed  society  is  at  a 
standstill.  All  that  has  been  done  and  thought  in  the 
world  from  the  earliest  times  that  has  benefited  the  race- 
has  had  regard  more  to  the  future  than  the  present.  The 
propagators  of  immortal  ideas  have  so  to  speak  held  to  the 
past  with  one  hand,  and  while  their  eyes  were  on  the  pres- 
ent they  reached  out  to  the  future  with  the  other.  Greek 
thought  is  a  living  entity  though  Greece  has  long  since 
passed  away.  The  experience  the  Romans  embodied  in 
their  legal  system  still  permeates  those  of  the  civilized 
world.  The  Christian  Church,  or  at  least  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  is  more  vigorous  now  than  ever.  And  while 
it  has  never  been  a  political  organization,  it  has  never 


148  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

ceased  to  influence  legislation.  The  purposes  of  its  lead- 
ers have,  it  is  true,  often  been  baneful,  but  the  rank  and 
file,  both  of  its  clergy  and  laity,  have  for  the  most  part 
been  men  and  women  of  honest  purposes  who  sought  their 
reward  only  or  chiefly  in  the  consciousness  of  having 
striven  to  make  the  world  better.  With  the  conquests  of 
Greece  and  Rome  and  Christianity  compare  those  of  Gen- 
ghis Khan  and  Tamerlane  and  Mohammedism,  and  mark 
the  contrast.  What  is  there  left  of  the  former  but  a  bloody 
specter,  and  what  is  the  latter  doing  to  elevate  its  votaries  ? 
The  answer  can  only  be  a  short  and  emphatic  one — nothing. 
It  has  no  ideal,  no  sentiment,  only  a  bleak  and  disgusting 
and  shortsighted  materialistic  sensualism. 

If  there  is  one  lesson  that  history  teaches  more  emphatic- 
ally than  any  other  it  is  that  true  patriotism  is  idealistic. 
It  is  not  contented  with  the  present;  it  seeks  something 
better.  It  is  eminently  long-sighted.  It  neither  asks  nor 
answers  the  miserable  interrogatory,  "What  is  all  this 
worth  to  me/'  where  there  is  a  question  of  what  policy  is 
the  wisest.  If  it  is  dissatisfied  with  present  conditions  it 
is  with  the  hope  and  belief  that  they  can  be  made  better. 
And  let  us  not  be  misled  by  the  cry,  The  party  wants  this 
or  wants  that.  Parties  do  not  and  can  not  make  princi- 
ples; principles  are  eternal.  Parties  can  not  make  men; 
it  is  men  that  make  parties.  A  policy  that  is  based  on 
mere  expediency,  that  is,  a  mere  servant  of  the  passing  oc- 
casion, is  doomed  to  perish.  If  men  allow  themselves  to 
be  misled  by  the  shibboleth  of  parties,  if  they  cling  to  a 
name  after  the  substance  has  departed  and  do  not  take  heed 
whither  they  are  going,  they  are  sure  to  be  led  to  destruc- 
tion. If  the  progress  of  intelligence  means  any  good  to 
the  world  it  must  enable  men  to  think  for  themselves,  to  act 
for  themselves  and  make -them  refuse  to  be  led  anywhere 


PATRIOTISM  AND  PARTISANSHIP.  149 

against  their  better  judgment.  The  world  has  far  less 
need  of  a  few  great  men  than  of  many  genuinely  patriotic 
citizens.  Patriotism  means  statesmanship,  rather  than 
mere  statecraft.  If  it  elects  war,  it  is  only  as  an  un- 
avoidable necessity  and  because  it  will  secure  a  more  dur- 
able peace.  It  directs  the  policy  of  William  of  Orange,  of 
Stein,  of  Washington  and  Lincoln,  rather  than  that  of 
Louis  XIV,  of  Metternich,  of  Talleyrand,  of  Napoleon,  of 
Calhoun  and  Davis.  It  is  less  concerned  about  immediate 
effects  than  lasting  results. 

But  I  have  been  advocating  the  cause  of  the  sentimental 
as  against  the  practical  statesman  and  now  that  I  am  ap- 
proaching the  end  of  my  discourse,  I  find  that  I  have  been 
advocating  the  cause  of  reason  against  sentiment,  or,  at 
least,  against  passion,  against  impulse ;  it  is  an  appeal  from 
Philip  drunk  to  Philip  sober.  I  have  made  a  plea  for  a 
practical,  for  a  reasonable  policy,  if  not  against  a  system  of 
politics  as  yet  practicable.  I  am  sure  if  such  a  system  is 
as  yet  beyond  our  reach  it  represents  the  goal  towards 
which  statesmanship  has  been  tending,  slowly,  it  may  be, 
but  tending  nevertheless.  Surely  as  men  grow  wiser  they 
grow  more  humane,  more  capable  of  self-control,  more  will- 
ing to  live  and  to  let  live.  If  they  talk  less  about  the  rights 
of  men  they  are  not  therefore  less  willing  to  recognize  and 
accord  these  rights.  It  is  true,  much  thought,  much  en- 
ergy, much  time  and  much  money  are  still  expended  on  the 
art  of  destruction,  but  I  believe  still  more  are  expended 
on  the  arts  of  peace,  on  the  arts  that  increase  the  happi- 
ness of  mankind.  Sad  to  say,  this  is  not  the  case  in  all 
countries,  but  it  is  so  in  some,  probably  in  many.  Even 
what  is  ostensibly  intended  for  war  may  ultimately  pro- 
mote peace,  for  no  nation  lives  wholly  or  even  chiefly  by 
war.  There  are  no  longer  perpetual  national  feuds,  as 


150  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

there  have  been  and  still  are  perpetual  tribal  feuds.  Some 
of  the  great  powers  may  still  be  ready  to  fly  at  each  others' 
throats,  but  they  deliberate  more  carefully  before  making 
the  fatal  plunge. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  with  the  growth  of  nationali- 
ties wars  have  decreased  in  frequency.  Until  compara- 
tively recent  times  the  different  portions  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  were  engaged  in  almost  continual  conflict. 
What  is  now  France  was  much  in  the  same  case.  Some  of 
the  Italian  States  were  almost  continually  at  loggerheads 
with  others.  In  nearly  all  the  wars  in  which  Germany 
has  been  engaged  some  of  the  States  were  on  one  side  and 
some  on  the  other.  It  does  not  seem  easy  to  say  anything 
bad  that  is  an  exaggeration  about  the  government  of  Rus- 
sia, yet  it  can  not  be  denied  that  the  growth  of  the  empire 
has  been  conducive  to  internal  peace.  We  may  think  of 
the  motive  as  we  please,  it  can  at  least  not  be  said  that  the 
idea  that  has  for  two  hundred  years  inspired  the  govern- 
ment of  this  great  empire  of  the  north  has  thus  far  and  on 
the  whole  produced  a  retrograde  movement  in  the  cause  of 
civilization. 

But,  finally,  let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  as  to  the  facts 
and  to  the  duty  of  present  and  future  generations.  The 
world  will  only  go  forward  so  long  as  men  will  to  advance. 
It  is  easy  to  stop  or  to  fall  behind ;  it  is  not  easy  to  go  on. 
In  the  world  of  volition  we  are  not  dealing  with  physical 
forces  that  can  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished. 
United  effort  toward  a  common  end,  toward  a  common 
goal  that  all  progressive  nations  perceive  more  or  less 
clearly  will  greatly  accelerate  the  common  weal.  We  must 
not  strive  to  make  ourselves  as  contented  as  we  can  amid 
conditions  as  we  find  them,  but  rather  endeavor  to  bring 
them  a  little  nearer  conditions  such  as  every  normally  con- 
stituted man  would  like  to  have  them. 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES. 

It  is  not  safe  to  assume  that  we  know  much  about  what 
is  passing  in  other  people's  minds ;  but  to  judge  from  what 
we  see  going  on  around  us  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether 
any  considerable  portion  of  our  fellow-mortals  give  the 
question  of  how  to  make  the  most  of  life  any  serious 
thought.  Years  before  they  reach  the  age  of  maturity 
the  large  majority  have  lapsed  into  the  ruts  of  the  hum- 
drum existence  led  by  those  about  them,  and  it  is  almost 
a  miracle  if  by  some  fortunate  chance  are  lifted  out 
of  it.  The  merchant  in  his  buying  and  selling,  the  artisan 
at  his  trade,  the  professional  man  in  the  pursuit  of  his 
daily  vocation,  are  chiefly  concerned  about  making  the 
largest  pecuniary  gains  out  of  the  particular  transaction 
in  hand,  and  about  little  else.  It  is  true  that  now  and  then 
we  find  parents  who  are  intelligently  solicitous  for  the 
welfare  of  their  own  children  and  that  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion as  a  whole  and  who  are  willing  to  make  almost  any 
sacrifices  for  the  attainment  of  so  noble  an  object ;  but  with 
the  large  majority  the  wish  is  a  mere  sentiment  that  does 
not  find  expression  in  a  consistent  line  of  conduct. 

We  Americans  take  a  great  deal  of  credit  to  ourselves 
because  we  are  not  idealists  and  sentimentalists,  but  prac- 
tical men  and  women  who  have  our  gaze  steadily  directed 

(151) 


152  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

toward  tangible  objects.  In  politics  as  in  business  every 
man  has  an  eye  chiefly  to  his  personal  advancement,  and 
he  who  should  desire  a  public  office  chiefly  for  the  oppor- 
tunities it  would  give  him  for  benefiting  the  public  at 
large  would  be  regarded  as  a  very  peculiar  sort  of  a  man,  if 
nothing  else.  A  few  men  can  be  found  who  openly  advo- 
cate the  doctrine  that  in  our  elective  offices  the  first  qualifi- 
cation of  the  nominee  should  be  character  and  ability, 
though  many  are  willing  to  assign  to  these  the  second  place, 
while  reserving  the  first  to  party  fealty  and  the  power  to 
win  votes.  Yet  it  sometimes  dawns  upon  us,  if  only  for 
a  moment,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  being  too  practical ; 
at  least  we  are  willing  to  admit  that  the  other  fellows  are 
so.  Kich  men  are  coming  more  and  more  to  fill  our  im- 
portant offices  because  of  their  practical  methods  in  the 
canvas.  They  have  a  way  of  carrying  elections  and  of 
getting  places  for  themselves  and  friends  that  is  out  of 
reach  of  him  who  relies  on  character  alone.  And  those 
who  elevate  them  to  office  are  practical  men;  why  should 
they  exert  themselves  for  an  abstraction,  an  ideal,  when  it 
is  possible  to  get  ready  cash,  or  its  equivalent  ? 

"You  take  my  life 
When  you  do  take  the  means  whereby  I  live," 

says  Shylock,  most  truly,  if  life  consists  chiefly  or  wholly 
in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  a  man  hath.  On  the 
same  principle  a  man  will  work  for  those  who  promise  to 
afford  him  the  means  of  putting  money  in  his  purse,  with- 
out a  very  careful  scrutiny  of  the  merits  of  the  question  in- 
volved. The  issue  is  simply  between  the  individual  and  the 
whole  community.  I  suppose  that  the  man  who  accepts 
what  the  law  calls  a  bribe  justifies  himself  by  the  same 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES. 


reasoning  that  the  man  uses  who  works  for  the  candidate 
that  commands  the  most  influence.  Of  two  equally  com- 
petent candidates  why  should  I  not  support  that  one  who  is 
able  and  willing  to  give  me  something  of  practical  value, 
whether  it  be  dollars  or  something  else?  I  am  persuaded 
that  a  good  deal  of  the  indignation  that  now  and  then 
breaks  out  against  successful  candidates  arises  from  a  state 
of  mind  like  that  of  the  little  girl  who  said.  "Mamma,  see 
what  a  pig  my  sister  is;  she  took  the  largest  orange  in  the 
dish,  and  I  wanted  it."  It  is  not  so  much  indignation  at 
the  disguised  bribery,  per  se,  as  vexation  at  the  condition 
of  things  which  made  it  possible  for  the  other  side  to 
bribe  heavier  than  ours.  The  great  misfortune,  of  this 
condition  of  things  is  that  it  keeps  most  of  the  real  states- 
men, the  men  who  are  able  and  willing  to  legislate  for 
the  general  good  rather  than  local  interests,  out  of  our 
legislative  halls,  and  puts  in  their  places  men  of  narrow 
views  and  limited  information.  One  does  not  need  to  be 
very  widely  read  to  see  that  much  of  our  bad  or  imprac- 
ticable legislation  is  simply  a  repetition  of  the  same  or 
similar  legislation  in  other  states.  If  we  are  not  willing 
to  profit  by  the  experience  of  Europe  we  ought  to  be  willing 
at  least  to  profit  by  that  of  our  sister  states,  and  be  only  too 
glad  to  use  their  dear-bought  experience  when  it  can  be 
had  for  almost  nothing,  in  preference  to  buying  it  over 
again.  And  when  questions  of  world-wide  interest  are  to 
be  legislated  upon,  such  as  those  which  concern  the  cur- 
rency and  international  commerce,  it  is  the  most  short- 
sighted folly  to  ignore  the  experience  of  the  foremost  Euro- 
pean countries.  A  man  or  a  nation  that  undertakes  to 
contravene  the  laws  of  nature  inevitably  does  so  to  his 
own  detriment.  The  time  has  passed  when  any  civilized 
nation  can  get  along  without  the  rest. 


154  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

To  me  it  is  very  clear,  as  it  must  be  to  every  careful 
reader  of  history,  that  in  politics  the  winning  principle  is 
idealistic ;  it  is  what  the  careful  interpreter  of  the  past  sees 
and  what  the  mere  time-server  does  not  see.  It  is  the  pur- 
suit of  ideal  aims  that  distinguishes  the  mere  politician 
from  the  statesman.  The  one  seeks  his  country's  good  in 
the  largest  and  fullest  sense,  though  it  may  sometimes  be  at 
the  expense  of  his  present  popularity  and  personal  interest. 
The  other  puts  self  and  section  first. 

In  England  the  years  that  preceded  the  American  Revo- 
lution showed  clearly  the  party  of  ideals  in  contrast  to 
those  who  were  interested  only  in  their  present  welfare 
and  personal  interests.  When  King  George  proposed  to 
Grenville  the  alternative  of  taxing  the  colonies  or  resigning 
his  office,  he  chose  the  former,  though  clearly  convinced  of 
its  inexpediency — let  us  at  least  give  him  credit  for  this 
much.  Looking  at  the  record  of  English  legislation  dur- 
ing this  period  it  is  plainly  evident  that  the  party  of  ideals, 
of  principles,  the  impracticables,  though  for  a  time  com- 
pletely defeated  were  in  the  end  victorious.  The  English 
people  had  to  pay  for  the  follies  of  their  rulers.  It  was 
not  the  "king's  friends,"  but  his  opponents,  his  enemies, 
as  they  would  doubtless  be  often  designated,  Pitt  and 
Burke,  and  those  who  stood  with  them,  those  who  had  the 
courage  to  defend  an  unpopular  course,  for  the  reason 
that  it  was  founded  on  right,  who  are  now  ranked  among 
her  leading  statesmen.  It  was  these  English  defenders  of 
a  "lost  cause,"  though  lost  only  for  a  time,  that  posterity 
no  less  at  home  than  abroad,  now  delights  to  honor,  not  so 
much  for  what  they  accomplished  in  their  day,  as  for  main- 
taining views  which  time  proved  to  be  just  and  true  and 
expedient.  It  was  the  cause  of  humanity,  the  cause  which 
the  progress  of  events  shows  is  always  and  everywhere  des- 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES.  155 

tined  to  win.  How  different  the  fate  of  these  men  from 
that  which  is  overtaking  the  defenders  of  another  "lost 
cause,"  in  our  own  day.  However  much  we  may  respect 
the  personal  qualities  of  some  of  those  who  were  led  into 
it  we  can  not  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  they  fought  for 
a  sectional  issue,  for  a  principle  that  the  world  had  out- 
grown and  that  they  undertook  to  do  that  which  has  never 
been  done,  put  back  the  hands  on  the  dial-plate  of  time. 
The  world  at  large  is  taking  less  interest  in  their  names 
and  their  fate  and  historians  will  ere  long  use  these  only  as 
they  do  that  of  the  Napoleons, 

"To  point  a  moral  or  adorn  a  tale." 

For  centuries  the  German  people  had  suffered  inconceiv- 
able miseries  from  the  all-powerful  spirit  of  particularism 
that  dominated  its  rulers.  Concerned  only  for  that  which 
would  prolong  their  lease  of  power  or  conduce  to  personal 
aggrandizement  her  petty  princes  took  little  account  of  the 
needs  of  their  subjects  and  of  the  whole  country.  The 
dream  of  German  unity  lived  only  in  the  books  of  histori- 
ans and  philosophers,  or  was  whispered  from  lips  to  lips 
in  the  little  coteries  of  idealists  that  existed  here  and  there. 
Yet  that  which  was  for  centuries  but  an  idea,  an  aspiration 
and  a  hope,  is  to-day  a  reality,  because  there  were  some  who 
never  despaired  even  in  the  darkest  hour,  because  they  in- 
terpreted more  correctly  than  the  practical  politicians  the 
signs  of  the  times  and  the  tendency  of  events. 

The  recent  history  of  Italy  closely  resembles  that  of 
Germany;  with  this  difference  that  her  outlook  for  unity 
was  even  more  hopeless.  For  the  century  preceding  her 
unification  Germany  had  maintained  a  vigorous  intellec- 
tual life,  while  Italy  had  sunk  into  a  condition  of  mental 
torpor.  Yet  Cavour  and  those  who  shared  his  views  and 
sympathized  with  his  aims  did  not  despair  and  only  ceased 


156  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

from  their  labors  when  they  had  been  brought  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue.  I  do  not,  of  course,  maintain  that  all  senti- 
mental politics  is  destined  in  the  end  to  practical  realiza- 
tion. No  doubt  ends  are  often  proposed  by  thinking  men 
that  are  not  only  visionary,  but  which  are  destined  to  re- 
main forever  only  a  dream.  My  contention  is  that  every 
project  deserves  to  be  judged,  not  by  its  prospect  of  imme- 
diate realization  and  its  evident  practical  utility,  but  by 
its  intrinsic  worth;  for  if  history  can  be  said  to  demon- 
strate anything  it  is  that 

"Nature,  in  her  productions  slow,  aspires 
By  just  degrees,  to  reach  perfection's  height." 

But  it  is  not  the  aimless  material  forces  that  aspire  to 
perfection's  height.  It  is  those  unchangeable  moral  forces 
which  must  be  translated  into  action  by  the  wisely  regu- 
lated will  of  man.  "A  prince  is  nothing  in  the  presence  of 
a  principle."  Things  are  not  what  they  seem  to  the 
merely  superficial  observer.  It  is  only  the  solitary  stu- 
dent, the  true  philosopher,  the  deep  thinker  who  can  dis- 
cern the  force  and  bearing  of  ideas.  There  are  some  an- 
cient writers  whose  works  the  world  does  not  grow  weary  of 
conning,  because  the  thoughts  are  always  modern.  Judged 
by  this  standard  that  coryphaeus  of  idealistic  philosophers, 
Plato,  is  better  appreciated  to-day  than  he  was  in  his  life- 
time. And  there  were  others  like  him  though  not  his 
equals.  They  clearly  discerned  the  goal  toward  which  in- 
stitutional life  must  strive  if  man  is  to  realize  to  the  full 
the  life  of  which  he  is  capable,  though  they  were  sometimes 
mistaken  as  to  the  best  methods  of  attaining  it.  The  time 
for  such  men  as  Plato  in  an  active  sphere  had  not  yet 
come ;  so  the  moral  atmosphere  in  which  he  lived  was  thor- 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES,  157 

•oughly  uncongenial.  Not  least  did  he  show  his  wisdom 
in  this  that  he  spent  his  days  in  putting  on  record  the 
truths  which  few  of  his  countrymen  had  the  prescience  to 
comprehend,  as  a  testimony  to  the  world  how  different  its 
fate  would  have  been  had  they  heeded  but  a  small  portion 
of  his  suggestions.  Whenever  a  people  has  sought  purely 
practical  aims  by  the  sacrifice  of  justice  and  righteousness 
somebody  has  had  to  pay  the  penalty.  Kegarded  from  the 
purely  practical  point  of  view  no  course  had  ever  so  little 
prospect  of  success  as  Christianity.  A  little  company  of 
converts  to  a  new  religion,  in  an  unimportant  city  of  an 
obscure  province  of  the  Roman  Empire,  calmly  planning  the 
conquest  of  the  world  with  spiritual  weapons  alone.  Sub- 
lime was  the  spectacle,  immeasurable  the  faith  in  the  hearts 
of  these  zealots !  But  time  has  justified  their  hopes  and  set 
the  seal  of  approval  on  their  vast  undertaking.  What  did 
it  signify  that  they  would  be  bitterly  opposed  by  both  those 
who  held  to  the  religion  which  they  had  given  up  and  by 
those  who  cared  nothing  for  any  religion !  What  matter  that 
they  would  come  into  conflict  with  paganism  in  its  various 
local  cults  and  with  the  whole  power  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire !  The  things  that  were  not  seen  proved  mightier  than 
those  that  were  visible  and  tangible.  In  a  few  centuries  it 
was  the  victor  and  in  a  condition  to  dictate  terms  to  the 
powers  that  but  recently  had  despised  and  hated  and 
striven  mightily  at  times  to  eradicate  it.  The  same  sub- 
lime faith  and  undaunted  courage  still  animates  the 
church.  The  spiritual  regeneration  of  Asia,  with  her 
teeming  millions,  looks  like  an  idle  dream.  But  it  is  not 
any  more  impossible  of  realization  than  the  conquest  of 
Europe  was  eighteen  centuries  ago. 

What  is  the  literature  worth  that  looks  only  to  immediate 
profits?     Things  are  changing  somewhat  in  this  regard, 


158  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

yet  even  now  they  who  write  what  will  yield  the  largest 
and  swiftest  returns  are  producing  only  for  to-day.  To- 
morrow no  one  will  care  for  it.  It  is  the  pursuit  of  the 
ideal,  the  effort  to  realize  so  far  as  may  be  the  subjective 
conception  of  what  is  loftiest  and  best  that  gives  to  the 
work  of  the  artist  in  every  department  that  which  is  of 
permanent  value.  If  I  read  history  aright  the  world  owes 
about  all  that  is  valuable  in  it  to  dreamers  and  idealists, 
to  men  who  live  in  the  future  rather  than  in  the  present. 
"Human  progress  depends  upon  the  dreams  of  enthusiasts. 
The  inventor,  the  discoverer,  the  reformer  are  dreamers 
who,  prophet-like,  see  in  their  imagination  things  that 
other  mortals  know  not  of."  Many  dreams  have  become 
realities  and  are  common-place  facts  to  us  now.  It  is 
hardly  too  much  to  say  that  civilization  consists  of  realized 
dreams.  We  call  dreams  which  are  not  all  dreams,  ideals, 
and  the  only  reason  why  all  dreams  are  not  useful  as  ideals 
is  because  the  stuff  of  which  the  ideal  is  made  does  not 
conform  to  the  actual  state  of  things  and  is  not  handled 
according  to  the  laws  of  nature.  We  must  admit  that  in 
the  domain  of  physical  science  the  dreamer  may  often  ex- 
pend toil  and  anxious  thought  in  that  which  is  destined  to 
remain  forever  unrealized.  We  may  labor  to  turn  a  baser 
metal  into  gold  and  fail,  or  to  construct  a  flying-machine 
that  will  never  fly,  but  it  is  not  so  in  the  domain  of  the  ar- 
fistic  and  the  ethical.  Here  no  honest  labor  is  ever  thrown 
away.  Think  of  personal  immortality  as  we  may,  death 
is  no  finality  and  we  must  not  form  our  rules  of  conduct  to 
accord  with  the  idea  that  the  exit  of  our  individual  life  is 
the  end  of  all.  People  who  have  no  interests,  no  care  or 
ideals  that  reach  beyond  the  grave,  may  enjoy  themselves 
better  than  others  who  live  their  lives  with  a  constant  pros- 
pect of  immortality;  yet  in  the  long  run  of  many  genera- 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES. 


tions  they  will  go  to  the  wall.  Nature  does  not  preserve 
the  individual  that  cares  for  itself  alone.  But  nature  pre- 
serves those  individual  features  of  great  men  who  conquer 
egotism,  and  lead  moral  lives  of  self-discipline  and  ideal 
aspirations.  The  moral  teachers  of  mankind  found  it  nec- 
essary to  build  their  ethics  upon  the  immortality  of  the 
soul;  and  it  is  not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  the  church  survived  in  the  struggle  for 
existence  against  those  people  who  looked  upon  death  as  an 
absolute  finality. 

Happiness  is  an  important  component  of  life,  but  it  is 
not  the  most  important;  it  is  not  the  end  and  purpose  of 
life.  "Let  us  not  look  for  ease  in  this  world  unless  it 
be  on  the  eve  of  a  life  that  has  been  full  of  aspiration  and 
labor.  There  is  no  ease  for  those  who  wish  to  progress. 
And  let  us  find  satisfaction,  not  in  the  pleasures  of  life  — 
usually  so-called,  —  but  in  the  noble  struggle  for  advance- 
ment and  amelioration." 

In  the  summer  of  ?82  I  spent  some  hours  wandering 
about  in  what  is  perhaps  the  most  famous  of  all  cemeteries, 
Pere  la  Chaise,  in  Paris.  Among  other  things  my  atten- 
tion was  attracted  by  a  monument  that  seemed  to  be  one 
huge  mass  of  wreaths  and  flowers.  On  closer  inspection  I 
found  it  to  be  that  of  the  historian  and  statesman  Michelet, 
and  the  question  naturally  rose  in  my  mind,  Why  were  his 
remains  thus  conspicuously  honored  above  all  the  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  that  reposed  in  the  bosom  of 
the  earth  about  me?  His  monument  is  by  no  means  the 
finest  there  and  no  noble  blood,  as  men  are  wont  to  reckon 
nobility,  flowed  in  his  veins.  Though  dead  nearly  half 
a  score  of  years  his  friends  had  not  forgotten  him  and 
according  to  the  beautiful  custom  of  the  French  people 
were  continually  bringing  fresh  flowers  to  his  tomb  in 


160  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

grateful  remembrance  of  his  services  to  his  country.  These 
profuse  floral  tributes  may  have  been  in  part  the  expression 
of  private  friendship  and  esteem,  but  that  which  endeared 
him  to  a  wider  circle  was  his  indefatigable  and  disinter- 
ested zeal  in  behalf  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  in  behalf  of 
democracy  and  against  ecclesiasticism.  It  is  probable  that 
he  accomplished  little  that  directly  benefited  his  country, 
but  he  did  much  indirectly  in  the  way  of  stimulating 
thought  and  in  pointing  out  to  his  fellow-citizens  in  what 
directions  national  greatness  and  prosperity  lay.  Poster- 
ity delights  to  honor  him  not  so  much  because  he  achieved 
great  things,  as  because  he  disinterestedly  devoted  a  long 
life  and  great  abilities,  not  to  the  accomplishment  of  pri- 
vate objects,  but  to  labors  for  the  public  good. 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  not  every  life  which  seems 
to  be  a  failure  is  really  so,  and  that  not  every  enterprise 
which  proves  abortive,  has  been  undertaken  wholly  in  vain. 
The  list  of  names  of  men  and  women  whose  earthly  careers 
were  a  failure,  judged  only  by  the  common  standard  of  their 
own  day,  is  a  long  one;  yet  as  we  look  back  upon  their 
record  viewing  it  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events  few  of 
us  would  hesitate  to  take  their  places  rather  than  that  of 
an  equal  number  who  won  transient  renown  and  a  large 
inheritance  of  perishable  possessions. 

In  that  most  remarkable  poem  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
a  production  into  which  the  author  has  wrought  the  sub- 
jective experience  of  a  life  extending  over  more  than  three- 
quarters  of  a  century,  we  have  finely  contrasted,  at  least 
by  implication,  the  diverging  results  of  a  life  spent  for  self- 
ish and  practical  ends  with  the  same  life  devoted  to  the 
good  of  others.  In  the  First  Part  of  Faust  the  hero  is 
placed  before  us  as  a  man  endowed  with  the  highest  intel- 
lectual gifts  and  enjoying  the  respect  of  his  fellow-men  be- 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES.  161 

cause  of  his  learning  and  talents.  But  his  life  had  been 
spent  solely  for  self  and  in  pursuit  of  selfish  ends.  The 
time  comes  when  he  realizes  to  its  full  extent  how  unsatis- 
factory such  an  existence  is  and  he  seriously  contemplates 
putting  an  end  to  it  with  a  poisonous  draught.  An  evil 
spirit  suggests  to  him  that  there  is  still  one  thing  untried 
and  advises  him  to  seek  enjoyment  in  sensuality,  advises 
him  not  only  to  renounce  a  mode  of  life  that  was  at  least 
harmless,  but  to  enter  upon  a  course  that  will  stop  at  noth- 
ing, not  even  the  sacrifice  of  the  happiness  of  his  fellow-be- 
ings, provided  it  will  contribute  to  his  own  gratification.  It 
need  hardly  be  said  that  to  one  so  gifted,  to  one  who  appre- 
hends so  clearly  the  constitution  of  things,  such  a  course 
must  prove  even  less  satisfactory  than  the  former. 

Made  a  wiser  but  a  sadder  man  by  the  bitter  experiences 
of  more  than  half  a  lifetime  of  misdirected  effort,  he  is 
led  to  take  a  wider  and  juster  view  of  his  relation  to  so- 
ciety and  the  world  of  which  he  forms  a  part.  He  thence- 
forth directs  his  attention  to  an  altruistic  object  and  re- 
solves to  devote  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  to  that 
which  aims  at  the  good  of  others  rather  than  himself.  Here 
almost  to  his  surprise  he  finds  satisfaction  and  the  inter- 
nal peace  which  he  had  so  long  sought  in  vain.  We  believe 
the  experience  of  Faust  is  the  experience  of  every  one  who 
is  not  intrinsically  and  totally  depraved.  Fortunately  for 
the  world  the  number  of  these  is  small ;  but  unfortunately 
they  are  too  few  who,  endowed  with  talents  and  learning, 
never  give  up  the  problem  of  life  until  they  have  solved  it, 
and  found  the  solution  in  the  salvation  which  the  hero  of 
Goethe's  poem  worked  out  with  such  determined  earnest- 
ness of  purpose. 

German  literature  furnishes  us  with  another  instructive 
contrast  in  the  person  of  the  two  men  who  by  universal 

11 


162  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

consent  stand  at  its  head.  Goethe's  intellect  is  confessedly 
of  the  very  highest  order.  But  two  or  three  other  names 
have  by  the  verdict  of  scholars,  been  written  so  high  on 
the  pinnacle  of  fame.  And  he  was  fortunate  as  the  world 
estimates  fortune.  Riches  were  his  by  inheritance,  hon- 
ors came  to  him  by  desert,  power  and  authority  were  en- 
trusted to  his  hands,  while  good  health  and  long  life  placed 
the  crown  upon  the  mercies  which  God  had  so  lavishly  be- 
stowed upon  him.  But  his  moral  nature  was  weak;  he 
was  willing  to  court  power  for  the  gifts  it  was  able  to  be- 
stow, he  was  more  concerned  with  the  study  of  man  as  he 
is  than  with  the  efforts  to  make  him  as  he  should  be.  For 
the  sorrows  of  an  unhappy  country  he  had  few  words  of 
sympathy,  and  distressed  humanity  found  in  him  but  a 
lukewarm  friend.  People  in  whom  the  intellectual  pre- 
dominates over  the  moral  love  to  study  him  much  as  they 
would  study  a  remarkable  organic  growth,  but  his  career 
furnishes  no  noble  example  and  his  memory  no  beacon  light 
to  which  future  generations  may  look  for  guidance  and 
inspiration.  In  striking  contrast  is  the  life  of  his  younger 
contemporary,  Schiller,  the  favorite  of  the  whole  German 
people.  Less  richly  endowed  by  nature,  he  put  his  tal- 
ents to  nobler  uses.  The  child  of  poverty,  destined  to 
struggle  through  the  whole  of  his  brief  life  with  adverse 
circumstances,  he  steadfastly  refused  to  bow  to  power  or 
to  speak  a  word  unworthy  of  an  honest  and  upright  man. 
He  was  less  concerned  with  depicting  man  as  he  is  than  in 
pointing  out  to  him  what  he  might  be  and  ought  to  be. 
Moral  purity  characterized  his  life  and  political  liberty  is 
the  key  note  of  his  teachings.  Which  of  these  two  careers 
is  the  most  worthy  of  imitation  and  in  which  was  the 
largest  promise  and  potency  of  future  good? 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES.  163 

During  the  former  part  of  the  last  century  a  music 
teacher  connected  with  one  of  the  gymnasia  of  the  city  of 
Leipzig  was  diligently  and  unostentatiously  pursuing  his 
chosen  vocation.  He  was  known  as  a  performer  on  the 
organ,  of  more  than  ordinary  merit,  but  he  cared  little  for 
notoriety  and  his  reputation  hardly  spread  beyond  the  circle 
of  his  personal  acquaintances.  Yet  he  was  a  diligent  com- 
poser for  every  musical  instrument  then  known  and  seems 
to  have  been  satisfied  when  his  thoughts  had  been  com- 
mitted to  paper  or  at  most  executed  by  such  inadequate 
help  as  could  be  found  among  his  pupils.  Scantily  ap- 
preciated during  his  life,  doubtless  owing  to  his  modesty 
and  indifference  to  public  applause,  he  was  soon  almost  for- 
gotten after  his  death  except  by  a  few  admirers,  and  his 
musical  compositions  neglected  and  scattered.  Two  gen- 
erations later  Mendelssohn  began  to  direct  the  attention 
of  his  fellow-musicians  to  the  inexhaustible  wealth  of  har- 
mony treasured  up  in  the  works  of  John  Sebastian  Bach, 
and  it  was  soon  acknowledged  by  competent  judges  that 
this  almost  forgotten  composer  was  a  genius  of  the  highest 
order.  His  organ  compositions  are  now  admitted  to  be 
not  only  "unsurpassed  but  unsurpassable,"  and  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Schumann  "music  owes  to  him  almost  as  great 
a  debt  as  religion  owes  to  its  founder."  Posterity  became 
possessed  with  the  desire  to  make  some  amends  for  the  neg- 
lect of  contemporaries,  by  erecting  over  the  grave  of  this 
wonderful  master  of  harmony,  some  token  of  its  apprecia- 
tion. But  lo !  the  last  resting  place  of  the  man  who  was 
worthy  to  sit  as  the  peer  of  Handel  and  Beethoven  could 
not  be  found;  and  to  this  day  his  dust  reposes  in  an  un- 
known and  unmarked  grave.  Yet  this  poor  musician  who 
during  life  earned  little  beyond  his  daily  bread  and  who 
after  death  had  no  one  to  place  even  a  tablet  to  his  memory, 


164  1YI8DOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

had  erected  for  himself  a  monument  "more  enduring  than 
brass,  and  loftier  than  the  pyramids'  royal  structure ;  which 
not  the  wasting  shower,  not  the  raving  northwind  can 
have  power  to  overthrow,  or  the  countless  succession  of 
years,  and  the  ages'  flight."  He  had  steadily  pursued  the 
highest  ideal  of  excellence  that  he  could  conceive  and  had 
never  stopped  to  see  whether  his  efforts  were  appreciated. 
All  the  millionaires  on  the  earth  could  not  purchase  an  im- 
mortality like  his.  They  might  erect  costly  monuments 
and  gorgeous  tombs,  but  the  world  would  remember  that 
they  were  nobodies  and  care  nothing  for  them  except  per- 
haps to  gratify  an  idle  curiosity,  unless  there  was  something 
more  than  wealth  to  entitle  them  to  remembrance. 

Here,  then,  was  another  life  that  was  a  failure,  according 
to  the  ordinary  scale  of  measurement,  but  it  was  a  brilliant 
success  when  measured  by  that  loftier  standard  which  has 
regard  rather  to  things  as  they  are  than  as  they  seem  to 
be.  It  is,  of  course,  easy  to  argue,  as  men  often  do,  when 
the  matter  of  aims  in  life  is  under  discussion,  that  the  ex- 
ample of  men  of  extraordinary  talents  is  worth  nothing  to 
him  who  has  all  he  can  do  to  make  a  living.  But  what  is 
the  mission  of  great  men  if  it  is  not  to  perve  as  examples 
to  the  rest  ?  The  world  is  not  made  up  of  great  men,  but 
of  ordinary  ones.  Every  man  may  and  ought  to  work  for 
some  ideal;  it  need  not  be  a  high  one,  and  yet  be  of  great 
advantage  to  himself  and  to  others.  The  man  whose  aim 
is  to  make  a  better  shoe  than  anybody  else  in  his  town  de- 
serves commendation  for  that.  The  man  whose  ideal  is  the 
perfect  citizen  will  serve  as  a  useful  example  to  many. 
It  is  not  always  the  man  who  occupies  the  most  conspicuous 
position  who  is  the  greatest  benefactor  to  the  community. 
The  social  structure  may  be  compared  to  a  building  of 
stone  in  which  each  separate  piece  has  its  place  and  its 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES.  165 

office.  The  key-stone  over  an  arch  or  the  block  over  a 
window  or  a  door  may  be  more  essential  to  the  solidity  of 
the  structure  than  some  of  the  smaller  fragments ;  and  yet 
not  a  piece  that  has  once  been  assigned  to  its  place  can 
be  taken  away  without  marring  the  beauty  and  symmetry 
of  the  building.  Nor  can  it  be  said  that  what  is  used  to 
form  the  top  of  the  wall  is  any  more  important  than  the 
bottom,  even  though  some  of  the  latter  be  quite  out  of 
sight.  We  may  say  here  in  the  words  of  Scripture,  "If  they 
were  all  one  member,  where  were  the  body  ?  But  now  there 
are  many  members,  yet  one  body.  And  the  eye  can  not 
say  to  the  hand,  I  have  no  need  of  thee ;  nor  again,  the  head, 
to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need  of  thee;  nay,  much  more  those 
members  of  the  body,  which  seem  to  be  more  feeble,  are 
necessary;  and  whether  one  member  suffer,  all  members 
suffer  with  it ;  or  one  member  be  honored,  all  members  re- 
joice with  it."  Or  again,  "je  also  as  living  stones  are 
built  up  a  spiritual  house."  Viewed  from  a  purely  theo- 
retical standpoint  it  seems  easy  to  inspire  the  world  with 
higher  aims  in  life.  It  is  only  necessary  for  each  individ- 
ual to  put  a  better  spirit  into  one  person  and  that  is  him- 
self, or  if  that  is  making  too  large  a  demand,  we  will  ex- 
pect nothing  of  one-half  the  members  of  society,  by  their 
own  efforts  and  expect  the'  other  half  to  raise  one  person 
besides  himself  to  higher  grounds.  Or,  again,  let  parents 
devote  themselves  solely  and  singly  to  the  good  of  their 
children,  and  with  the  next  generation  the  millenium 
would  be  ushered  in.  The  orphan  alone  would  be  left  for 
some  one  to  take  care  of,  and  it  would  be  easy  for  the  child- 
less to  take  upon  themselves  that  charge.  But  alas! 
what  is  theoretically  so  easy  is  practically  impossible;  too 
many  care  nothing  for  themselves  and  equally  little  for 
others.  You  all  know  the  story  of  the  man  who  bequeathed 


166  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

to  his  sons  a  vineyard  in  which  he  said  a  treasure  lay  bur- 
ied. As  he  did  not  tell  them  in  what  part,  they  were  com- 
pelled to  dig  it  all  over,  and  to  their  surprise  the  treasure 
proved  to  be  the  enriched  soil  of  the  vineyard.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  the  desire  to  acquire  a  competence  or  even 
riches  may  be  perfectly  legitimate,  but  it  ought  not  to  ab- 
sorb any  man's  entire  attention.  He  should  not  forget, 
no  matter  how  humble  his  station,  that  his  fellow-men,  and 
especially  his  children,  if  he  has  any,  have  a  claim  upon 
him  which  he  can  not  ignore.  The  young  man  who  in- 
herited an  ideal  treasure  found  a  real  one  while  searching 
for  it ;  so  the  man  who  strives  to  lay  up  a  competence  may 
not  succeed  in  that,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  he  should 
not  be  a  better  man  because  of  his  object  in  life. 

Kuskin  has  some  judicious  remarks  on  the  ideal  aims 
that  may  inspire  a  man  even  in  the  humblest  pursuits. 
The  first  thing  a  man  has  to  do  is  to  find  out  what  he  is 
fit  for.  "People  usually  reason  in  some  such  fashion  as 
this:  'I  don't  seem  quite  fit  for  a  head-manager  in  the 

firm  of &  Co.,  therefore,  in  all  probability,  I  am 

fit  to  be  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.'  Whereas,  they 
ought  rather  to  reason  thus:  'I  don't  seem  quite  fit  to 

be  head-manager  in  the  firm  of '• —  &  Co.,  but  I  dare 

say  I  might  do  something  in  a  small  green  grocery  busi- 
ness; I  used  to  be  a  good  judge  of  pease;'  that  is  to  say, 
always  trying  lower  instead  of  trying  higher  until  they 
find  bottom ;  on  a  wall  set  in  the  ground,  a  man  may  build 
up  by  degrees,  safely  instead  of  disturbing  every  one  in 
the  neighborhood  by  perpetual  catastrophies."  He  goes 
on  then  to  show  how  many  parents  are  in  a  constant  state 
of  feverish  anxiety  about  the  future  station  in  life  of  their 
children,  as  if  this  were  anything,  and  adds,  "There  is  no 
real  desire  for  the  safety,  the  discipline,  or  the  moral  good 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES.  167 

of  the  children,  only  a  panic  horror  of  the  inexpressibly 
pitiable  calamity  of  their  living  a  ledge  or  two  lower  on  the 
molehill  of  the  world — a  calamity  to  be  averted  at  any 
cost  whatever,  of  struggle,  anxiety  and  shortening  of  life 
itself.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  greatei  good  could  be 
achieved  for  the  country,  than  the  change  of  public  feeling 
on  this  head,  which  might  be  brought  about  by  a  few 
benevolent  men,  undeniably  in  the  class  of  'gentlemen,' 
who  would,  on  principle,  enter  into  some  of  our  commonest 
trades,  and  make  them  honorable ;  showing  that  it  was  pos- 
sible for  a  man  to  retain  his  dignity,  and  remain,  in  the 
best  sense  a  gentleman,  though  part  of  his  time  was  every 
day  occupied  in  manual  labor,  or  even  in  serving  customers 
over  a  counter.  I  do  not  in  the  least  see  why  courtesy,  and 
gravity,  and  sympathy  with  the  feelings  of  others,  and  cour- 
age, and  truth,  and  piety,  and  what  else  goes  to  make  up 
a  gentleman's  character,  should  not  be  found  behind  a 
counter  as  well  as  elsewhere,  if  they  were  demanded,  or 
even  hoped  for,  there."  These  remarks  though  used  of  En- 
glish life,  may  with  a  slight  modification  be  applied  to 
ourselves.  But  I  shall  not  speak  here  of  the  dignity  of 
labor;  we  hear  a  great  deal  about  that  and  believe  very 
little  of  it.  But  I  do  insist  on  the  dignity  of  life;  upon 
the  supreme  importance  of  striving  for  the  attainment  of 
some  worthy  object,  and  of  so  living  that  each  to-morrow 
may  find  us  farther  than  to-day  in  all  the  elements  of  true 
manhood  and  womanhood. 

But  it  is  not  those  who  are  chiefly  engaged  in  labors 
of  a  more  or  less  mecl-mical  sort  to  whom  society  has  a 
right  to  look  for  ideal  aims  in  life.  It  is  the  cultured,  the 
intelligent,  the  educated  who  should  take  the  lead.  And 
what  is  knowledge  worth  to  the  individual  and  to  society 
if  it  does  not  lift  men  above  the  narrow  mercantile  spirit 


168  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

of  the  age.  The  illiterate  and  uncultured  man  may  well 
say,  especially  if  his  motives  are  pure  and  his  life  upright, 
"I  do  not  see  that  my  intelligent  neighbor  is  one  whit  more 
self-sacrificing  or  less  grasping  or  less  eager  for  dollars 
and  cents  than  I  am."  He  is  right  when  he  holds  that 
knowledge  alone  will  not  save  men.  It  is  not  enough  to 
know  what  ails  a  patient,  it  is  equally  important  that  one 
should  know  how  to  cure  him  and  be  willing  to  make  the 
sacrifices  necessary  to  his  restoration.  Yet  intelligent  men 
are  the  saviors  of  the  world.  Turkey  has  not  advanced  in 
half  a  dozen  centuries,  because  she  has  no  scholars,  no  citi- 
zens with  ideal  aims  either  in  art  or  science  or  morals. 
With  the  Turk  the  only  question  is  how  to  get  through  the 
day.  Spain  is  very  much  in  the  same  case;  for  the  few 
to  whom  life  means  more  than  merely  to  eat  and  drink  and 
sleep  have  little  influence  on  the  unregenerate  masses,  so 
largely  in  the  majority. 

I  beg  you  to  consider  whether  it  is  not  the  pursuit  of 
ideals ;  and  moral  preaching  that  has  brought  the  world  to 
where  it  is.  And  if  you  find  it  so,  will  you  not  put  heart  and 
head  and  hand  to  this  glorious  work  ?  Take  this  stand  from 
principle  and  pursue  your  object  unremittingly  through 
life.  There  is  hardly  a  man  living  who  would  not  like  to 
have  the  credit  of  being  honest  and  generous  and  benevo- 
lent, but  selfishness  hinders  so  many  noble  impulses  from 
blossoming  into  action.  Men  resort  to  hypocrisy  to  gain 
credit  for  deeds  which  they  have  not  the  moral  earnestness 
to  perform.  How  much  better  it  is  to  strive  for  real  ex- 
cellence than  for  the  mere  credit  of  it ;  for  a  reality  than  a 
sham.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  inhabitants  of  the  spirit 
world  take  any  interest  in  what  is  going  on  in  our  mundane 
life;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  if  it  is  possible  for  disembod- 
ied souls  to  look  upon  this  struggle  between  what  is  good 


SPIRITUAL  VERITIES.  169 

and  what  is  evil,  between  what  is  high  and  what  is  low, 
between  what  is  ideal  and  what  is  selfish,  and  the  thought 
were  forced  upon  them :  In  all  this  I  took  no  part  and  had 
no  interest;  I  never  contributed  a  dollar  nor  an  hour's  la- 
bor to  sustain  the  good  against  the  evil,  but  allowed  my  in- 
significant self  to  fill  the  entire  horizon  of  my  mental  vis- 
ion, that  would  be  torment  enough. 

I  know  that  it  is  not  easy  to  be  true  to  the  ideal  of  our 
youth,  through  a  career  of  disappointment,  such  as  every 
life  is  to  a  greater  or  less  degree.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
every  successful  man  in  an  ethical  cause  has  often  had  oc- 
casion to  say  with  the  Psalmist,  "My  feet  had  well  nigh 
slipped,  when  I  beheld  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked."  But 
for  the  very  reason  that  so  many  lead  aimless  lives  the  ob- 
ligation is  the  more  binding  on  the  few  who  have  a  deeper 
insight.  He  that  would  be  greatest  am^ng  you  shall  be 
your  servant. 

"Not  many  lives,  but  only  one  have  we — 

Frail,  fleeting  man! 
How  sacred  that  one  life  should  be— 

That  narrow  span! 

Day  after  day  filled  up  with  blessed  toil, 
Hour  after  hour  still  bringing  in  new  spoil." 

But  while  we  have  but  one  life  to  live,  that  is  not  the  end 
of  us  even  in  this  world,  unless  we  will  have  it  so. 

"So  to  live  that  when  the  sun 

Of  our  existence  sinks  in  night, 
Memorials  sweet  of  mercies  done 

May  shrine  our  names  in  memory's  light, 
And  the  blest  seeds  we  scatter'd  bloom 
A  hundred-fold  in  days  to  come." 


170  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

This  is  not  a  mere  fancy  sketch — it  is  something  that  is 
within  the  reach  of  even  the  humblest,  but  it  requires  a 
fixed  and  earnest  purpose. 

I  can  not  more  fitly  conclude  the  lesson  of  the  present 
hour  than  with  some  words  Carlyle  uses  in  closing  his  life 
of  John  Sterling.  Would  that  the  same  could  be  used 
of  us  all ! 

"In  Sterling's  writings  and  actions,  were  they  capable  of 
being  well  read,  we  consider  that  there  is  for  all  true  hearts 
especially  for  young  and  noble  seekers,  and  strivers  toward 
what  is  highest,  a  mirror  in  which  some  shadow  of  them- 
selves and  of  their  immeasureably  complex  arena  will  prof- 
itably present  itself.  Here  also  is  one  encompassed  and 
struggling  even  as  they  now  are.  This  man  had  said  to 
himself,  not  in  mere  catechism-words,  but  with  all  his  in- 
stincts, and  the  question  thrilled  in  every  nerve  of  him, 
and  pulsed  in  every  drop  of  blood :  What  is  the  chief  end 
of  man?  Behold  I  too  would  live  and  work  as  beseems  a 
denizen  of  this  Universe — a  child  of  the  Highest  God.  By 
what  means  is  a  noble  life  still  possible  to  me,  ye  Heavens, 
and  thou  Earth,  oh  how?"  This  is  the  question  which 
every  honest,  God-fearing  man  asks  himself  every  day,  and 
even  oftener.  But  the  sum  and  substance  is  contained  in 
the  words :  "Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honorable,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever 
things  are  lovely,  whatsover  things  are  of  good  report;  if 
there  be  any  virtue,  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on  these 
things;* 


SELF-RENUNCIATION. 

Not  very  many  years  ago  a  learned  and  clever  Scotchman 
wrote  a  book  to  prove  that  "civilization  is  nothing  more 
than  the  complicated  outcome  of  a  war  waged  with  nature 
by  man  in  society  to  prevent  her  from  putting  into  execu- 
tion in  his  case  the  law  of  natural  selection.*  All  men 
everywhere,  from  states  very  low  to  states  very  high  in 
civilization  are  banded  together,  weakly  or  powerfully,  to 
fight  this  fight,  and  the  measure  of  success  which  attends 
the  struggle  of  each  band  or  association  so  engaged  is  the 
measure  of  success  it  has  attained.7' 

It  does  not  concern  us  to  examine  here  whether  this  cor- 
rectly states  a  law  of  nature;  but  that  it  embodies  a  large 
measure  of  truth  no  one  will  dispute,  and  it  may  be  safely 
accepted  as  a  good  working  hypothesis.  For  who  that  has 
read  history  can  deny  that  there  have  always  been  at  work  in 
the  world  two  antagonistic  forces;  one  tending  to  disinte- 
grate society,  the  other  to  keep  it  together  and  improve  it  ? 
As  one  force  or  the  other  had  the  upper  hand  society  ad- 
vanced and  improved  or  retrograded  and  decayed.  Just  as  in 
every  living  body  dissolution  begins  the  moment  the  vital 


*The  Past  in  the  Present:  What  Is  Civilization?    By  Arthur 
Mitchell. 

(171) 


172  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

forces  cease  to  be  active  in  building  up  its  tissues ;  so  in  the 
social  organism,  when  the  natural  forces  which  exist  in 
man  as  an  individual  overpower  the  spiritual  forces  de- 
veloped and  strengthened  by  the  attrition  of  man  against 
man  in  society,  progress  is  stopped  and  disintegration  be- 
gins. 

Self-denial  or  self-sacrifice  is  a  convenient  term  to  desig- 
nate the  law  of  progress,  selfishness  the  principle  that  coun- 
teracts it.  The  terms  can  be  reversed  and  the  statement 
will  be  equally  true.  Let  us  look  at  their  applicability  in 
the  explanation  of  a  few  historical  eras  of  first  rate  im- 
portance. The  fundamental  principle  of  the  ancient  Greek 
states,  notably  Athens  and  Lacedaemon,  was  the  obligation 
of  the  individual  to  consult  the  interests  of  the  common- 
wealth rather  than  his  own.  It  was  each  one's  duty  to 
sacrifice  all  that  he  had  upon  the  altar  of  his  country.  As 
long  as  their  citizens  recognized  and  acted  under  this  feel- 
ing their  political  power  was  greater  than  any  force  that 
could  be  brought  against  them.  But  though  the  East 
could  not  evercome  them  in  battle  it  was  able  by  the  assidu- 
ous nurture  of  selfishness  to  undermine  their  civic  virtue 
so  that  in  time  they  fell  an  easy  prey  to  those  who  were 
eager  for  their  destruction.  The  citizen  preferred  ease 
and  personal  gratification  to  liberty  maintained  by  per- 
sonal sacrifices.  With  the  decay  of  civic  virtue,  literature 
sank  lower  and  lower  until  it  was  no  longer  worthy  of  the 
name.  The  spirit  that  once  made  the  Athenian  proud  of 
his  nationality,  of  the  beauty  of  his  native  city,  of  the 
splendor  of  her  festivals,  the  genius  of  her  artists,  the  glory 
of  her  choric  exhibitions,  that  made  him  boast  of  the  re- 
nown of  her  achievements  in  everything  that  was  noble,  no 
longer  animated  him,  and  the  self-seeking  Greek  had  be- 
come a  byword  and  a  reproach. 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  173 

Many  centuries  later  on  another  continent  a  feeble  nation 
is  engaged  in  a  life  and  death  struggle  with  a  powerful 
enemy.  But  it  was  not  entered  upon  in  the  spirit  of  self- 
seeking.  No  sentiment  was  more  frequently  uttered  than 
that  growing  out  of  the  conviction  that  it  was  not  so  much 
for  the  benefit  of  the  contemporaries  as  for  the  good  of 
those  yet  unborn.  Luxury  had  not  yet  undermined  civic 
virtue  and  the  contest  ended  as  every  such  contest  ends, 
not  in  favor  of  the  strongest  but  of  the  most  worthy. 

Less  than  a  century  ago  Germany  lay  prostrate  before 
the  overwhelming  power  of  Napoleon.  He  had  been  vic- 
torious as  long  as  there  had  been  but  little  self  in  his  plans. 
The  baseness  of  the  self-seeking  German  princes  had 
brought  untold  misery  upon  their  subjects.  But  to  them 
as  to  our  forefathers  the  burden  became  unbearable  and 
forgetting  self  they  determined  to  throw  it  off.  They  felt 
that  the  sufferings  of  the  present,  great  as  they  might  be, 
were  not  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  that  should  fol- 
low. And  their  faith  was  not  in  vain.  Just  as  the  de- 
generate Greek  subjects  of  the  Macedonian  and  the  Eoman 
Empire  looked  back  with  pride  at  the  deeds  of  his  fore- 
fathers, even  when  he  was  too  weak  to  imitate  their  exam- 
ples, so  the  German  of  to-day  no  less  than  the  American 
regards  the  deeds  of  a  century  past  with  an  ever-growing 
satisfaction.  Degenerate  indeed  is  he  who  can  dwell  in 
spirit  upon  those  former  days  of  toil  and  sacrifice  and 
heroism  without  feeling  that  he  would  gladly  have  shared 
them  because,  great  as  may  have  been  the  cost,  the  reward 
is  still  greater.  Yet  the  success  of  every  holy  cause  must 
be  purchased  with  sacrifices,  not  only  of  blood,  which  many 
are  ready  to  make,  but  of  self  in  a  hundred  other  ways, 
to  which  a  much  smaller  number  of  souls  is  adequate. 
Let  us  not  be  misled  by  our  admiration  for  the  past;  let 


174  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

us  not  sigh  because  we  live  in  these  degenerate  times,  a& 
they  are  often  called;  there  is  a  future,  joined  to  every 
present,  and  opportunity  is  never  wanting  to  him  who 
will  use  it. 

It  is  worth  at  least  a  passing  remark  that  many  are  to- 
day seeking  their  temporal  salvation  through  the  same 
methods  that  preserved  it  to  the  foremost  nations  of  an- 
tiquity. They  would  make  the  commonwealth  all-power- 
ful, the  individual  nothing,  except  so  far  as  he  contributed 
his  mite  to  the  formation  of  public  opinion.  Few,  I  be- 
lieve, who  advocate  the  self-abnegation  demanded  by  so- 
cialism are  aware  that  they  are  advocating  a  return  to  a 
condition  of  society  that  has  been  outgrown  forever.  But 
the  obligation  of  every  man  to  the  community  is  as  binding 
now  as  it  ever  was,  only  the  recognition  of  that  obligation 
must  find  expression  voluntarily.  No  man's  services  to 
his  country  or  to  any  cause  is  worth  anything  if  his  first 
object  is  to  benefit  himself  to  the  exclusion  of  others. 
When  two  parties  contend  for  a  loaf,  each  expecting  to  get 
two-thirds,  both. are  sure  to  be  disappointed.  The  cate- 
gorical imperative  represents  our  perfect  rule  of  conduct 
and  we  approach  perfection  as  we  approach  a  realization 
of  it  in  our  lives. 

The  spirited  lines  of  Scott  forcibly  express  the  great  fact 
that  only  the  unselfish  man  can  be  a  lover  of  his  country. 

"High  though  his  titles,  proud  his  name, 
Boundless  his  wealth  as  wish  can  claim ; 
Despite  those  titles,  power  and  pelf, 
The  wretch  concentred  all  in  self, 
Living  shall  forfeit  fair  renown, 
And  doubly  dying  shall  go  down 
To  the  vile  dust  from  whence  he  sprung, 
Unwept,  unhonored  and  unsung/' 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  175 

Those  nations,  both  ancient  and  modern,  have  made  the 
greatest  progress  among  whom  the  law  of  self-denial  was 
most  vigorous  in  the  national  consciousness.  Otherwise 
it  is  simply  a  thing  to  laugh  at,  like  the  silly  pride  of  the 
modern  Spaniard  or  Turk.  The  nations  of  the  East  had 
no  coherence,  except  to  some  extent  the  Jewish,  because 
their  units  were  held  together  by  an  external  force.  How 
proud  were  the  citizens  of  Home  to  be  called  by  that  august 
name,  how  eager  to  purchase  the  title  when  not  born  to 
it !  It  is  not  a  mere  accident  that  so  many  founders  and 
reformers  of  Greek  states,  as  well  as  of  Rome,  live  in  le- 
gend as  having  freely  offered  their  lives  for  the  good  of 
their  country.  The  most  ignorant  could  appreciate  this 
embodiment  of  the  national  consciousness  in  flesh  and 
blood,  and  feel  the  inspiration  to  imitate  them. 

After  the  states  of  modern  Europe  began  to  emerge  from 
the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  in  France  first  that 
a  strong  and  permanent  national  feeling  was  developed; 
and  it  is  a  trite  remark  that  France  led  the  civilization  of 
modern  Europe.  National  salvation,  national  greatness, 
civilization ^n  its  highest  and  best  sense  is  only  possible  in 
a  country  a  majority  of  whose  citizens  voluntarily  place 
country  before  self,  even  to  the  extent  of  all  that  men  hold 
dear. 

I  do  not  forget  that  patriotism  in  the  vigorous  language 
of  Dr.  Johnson,  may  be  the  last  refuge  of  a  scoundrel. 
There  is  little  hope  for  a  country  where  its  citizens  say  "our 
country  right  or  wrong."  Patriotism  is  only  worthy  of 
that  sacred  name  when  it  puts  national  honor  and  honesty 
first  and  national  greatness  last,  for  that  greatness  is  alone 
permanent  which  is  founded  upon  that  rock  of  truth  and 
right.  National  power  should  be  used  to  promote  most 
vigorously  only  those  principles  that  are  imperishable  in 
human  constitutions. 


176  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

A  recent  writer  applies  the  words  of  Froude  upon  Davis, 
the  English  navigator,  to  the  case  of  John  Brown,  and  I 
use  them  here  because  they  fully  describe  the  condition  of 
life  that  I  am  now  trying  to  sketch,  "A  melancholy  end 
for  such  a  man — the  end  of  a  warrior,  not  dying  Epamin- 
ondas-like  on  the  field  of  victory,  but  cut  off  in  a  poor 
brawl  or  ambuscade.  Life  with  him  was  not  a  summer 
holiday,  but  a  holy  sacrifice  offered  up  to  duty,  and  what 
his  master  sent  was  welcome.  It  was  hard,  rough,  and 
thorny,  trodden  with  bleeding  feet  and  aching  brow,  the 
life  of  which  the  cross  is  the  symbol;  a  battle  which  no 
peace  follows  this  side  the  grave ;  which  the  grave  gapes  to 
finish  before  the  victory  is  won ;  and  strange  that  it  should 
be  so — this  is  the  highest  life  of  man.  Look  back  along 
the  great  names  of  history;  there  are  none  whose  life  has 
been  other  than  this.  They  to  whom  it  has  been  given  to 
do  the  really  highest  work  in  this  world,  whoever  they  are, 
Jew  or  Gentile,  Pagan  or  Christian,  warriors,  legislators, 
philosophers,  priests,  poets,  kings,  slaves — one  and  all, 
their  fate  has  been  the  same :  the  same  bitter  cup  has  been 
given  them  to  drink."  • 

"Whether  on  the  scaffold  high, 

Or  in  the  battle's  van, 
The  fittest  place  where  man  can  die, 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man." 

We  live  in  times  where  personal  valor  no  longer  finds 
constant  and  fit  expression  in  terms  of  bodily  prowess; 
it  is  less  necessary  that  one  or  a  few  shall  die  for  the  many. 
But  it  is  not  the  less  necessary  that  each  shall  exercise  his 
proper  share  of  self-denial  that  the  community  receive  no 
detriment.  Salvation  through  self-denial  is  the  formula 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  177 

which  expresses  objectively  the  idea  embodied  in  the  well- 
known  words,  salvation  through  faith. 

In  one  case  we  speak  in  the  language  of  philosophy,  in 
the  other  in  the  language  of  theology.  Through  salvation 
by  faith  we  save  ourselves,  through  salvation  by  self-denial 
we  save  our  fellow-men. 

Here  we  have  the  law  of  human  progress,  yet  while  con- 
stantly recognizing,  how  constantly  do  men  resist  it. 
Against  no  other  law  of  the  spirit  does  he  make  such  unin- 
terrupted though  it  may  be  silent  resistance.  In  order  to 
get  into  the  kingdom  he  is  willing  to  expend  ten  times  the 
strength  that  would  take  him  into  the  strait  gate,  in  order 
to  get  in  some  other  way,  provided  his  feelings  of  selfish- 
ness be  gratified.  He  wants  his  own  neighbors  to  see  the 
feat  of  scaling  the  wall,  of  breaking  a  breach,  or  to  know 
how  much  time  he  spent  on  it,  or  a  monument  to  commem- 
orate the  achievement.  How  many  there  are  who  would* 
purchase  health  of  body  or  purity  of  heart  at  any  price 
except  that  of  a  bad  habit !  How  many  there  are  who 
would  purchase  learning,  public  gratitude  or  posthumous 
fame  at  any  price  except  that  of  constitutional  disinclina- 
tion to  exertion! 

But  God  will  not  have  it  so.  We  all  must  pay  the  same 
price  for  real  excellence,  and  no  one  can  pay  it  for  us,  and 
that  price  is  self-denial. 

The  sentiments  with  which  a  people  regards  the  spirit  of 
self-denial  and  self-sacrifice  is  an  index  of  its  place  along 
the  scale  of  civilization.  The  degenerate  Carthagenians 
endeavored  to  purchase  the  favor  of  the  gods  by  the  sacri- 
fice of  their  children  to  Moloch.  Many  an  Indian  has 
hoped  to  purchase  heaven  by  death  under  the  wheels  of 
Juggernaut's  car.  Not  a  few  Christians  have  sought  to 

12 


178  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

purchase  the  same  favor  by  self-inflicted  bodily  pains,  or 
by  large  bequests  to  purposes  of  charity.  But  this  is  only 
offering  selfishness  for  that  which  self-denial  alone  will 
purchase.  It  is  not  by  such  means  as  these  that  we  may 
gain  our  place  among  the  company  of  the  pure  in  heart. 
If  such  a  thing  were  possible  for  any  one  he  would  soon 
feel  like  a  rustic  in  the  company  of  the  Immortals  of  the 
French  Academy.  We  do  not  even  need  the  Gospel  to  teach 
us  this.  Socrates  and  Epictetus,  with  many  of  their  coun- 
trymen, knew  better;  Cicero  and  Seneca  knew  better,  in 
spite  of  their  many  shortcomings.  Yet  there  are  hundreds 
of  so-called  Christians  living  to-day  who  have  not  learned 
this  foundation  principle.  It  is  a  sad  fact  but  undeniable 
in  the  history  of  nations,  that  selfishness  increases  with 
national  prosperity;  yea,  here  and  there  outruns  it. 

I  believe  it  is  true  everywhere  that  the  poor  are  much 
'readier  to  make  sacrifices  than  the  rich.  It  is  certainly 
true  that  it  is  not  the  richest  governments  that  contribute 
most  liberally  to  the  promotion  of  enterprises  that  are 
worthy  in  themselves,  though  they  may  not  be  of  immediate 
utility.  Unquestionably  not  our  millionaires  have  done 
most  to  aid  the  great  enterprises  that  make  men  wiser 
and  better.  Yet  it  is  they  above  all  others  who,  upon 
merely  mercenary  grounds,  ought  to  contribute  most  liber- 
ally toward  those  enterprises  which  make  society  stable,  and 
to  show  the  poor  that  all  human  interests  are  common 
to  all. 

No  one  has  more  profoundly  fathomed  the  motives  of 
the  human  heart  than  that  somewhat  unamiable  philoso- 
pher, Thomas  Carlyle,  and  there  is  no  thought  to  which 
he  more  frequently  recurs,  nor  any  precept  which  he  en- 
forces with  more  persistence  than  this  one  that  self-denial, 
self-sacrifice,  self-renunciation,  is  the  beginning  of  all 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  179 

moral  excellence.  Almost  in  the  same  words  the  his- 
torian of  European  morals  says:  "The  first  condition  of 
all  really  great  moral  excellence  is  a  spirit  of  genuine  self- 
sacrifice  and  self-renunciation."  Nor  is  there  anything  sur- 
prising in  this.  So  long  as  our  lower  and  carnal  self  is 
our  master  it  is  not  possible  for  us  to  follow  the  guidance 
of  our  higher  and  spiritual  self.  Men  in  all  the  stages  of 
civilization  have  instinctively  felt  this  and  unconsciously 
recognized  it.  The  Buddha's  highest  claim  to  admiration 
lay  in  the  fact  that  he  renounced  kingship  to  minister  to 
the  poor  and  humble.  The  Savior  of  mankind  left  a 
greater  kingdom  for  a  like  purpose.  There  are  no  heroes, 
whether  real  or  legendary,  so  fondly  remembered  as  those 
who  have  sacrificed  themselves  for  the  good  of  others.  The 
Athenians  thought  no  one  worthy  to  reign  after  King 
Kodrus,  who  made  himself  a  voluntary  offering  for  the  sal- 
vation of  his  country. 

The  Eomans  cherished  with  feelings  stronger  than  ven- 
eration the  remembrance  of  Horatius  and  Regulus.  Arnold 
Winkelried  is  held  up  as  an  example  not  only  by  his  own 
countrymen  but  his  devotion  to  country  is  regarded  as  an 
inheritance  in  which  all  patriots  may  share.  JSTo  man  is  so 
great  that  he  could  not  enhance  his  reputation  by  saving 
the  life  of  a  child  at  the  risk  of  his  own,  or  sacrificing  his 
own  in  the  attempt  to  do  so.  Some  people  may  think  that, 
it  is  the  element  of  personal  bravery  that  charms  men  in 
instances  such  as  these.  But  personal  bravery  displayed 
upon  an  unworthy  object  is  mere  foolhardiness  for  which  all 
right  minded  persons  feel  only  contempt.  If  there  be  any 
virtue  in  this  it  is  that  of  the  bull-dog  rather  than  of  a 
human  being. 

But  self-sacrificing  for  a  national  cause  is  not  the  only 
sacrifice  that  finds  a  permanent  and  cherished  place  in  the 


180  WISDOM  AMD  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

human  heart.  There  are  no  scenes  in  the  Greek  mythology 
which  poets  have  dwelt  on  more  fondly  and  which  audi- 
ences tired  less  of  seeing  upon  the  stage  than  Antigone 
braving  the  wrath  of  the  cruel  Kreon  and  a  horrible  death 
in  order  to  perform  the  last  rites  of  affection  over  the  dead 
bodies  of  her  brothers;  than  Alkestis  laying  down  her  life 
voluntarily  that  her  husband  might  live ;  than  the  strife  be- 
tween Orestes  and  Pylades  as  to  which  should  die  for  the 
other.  Few  are  they  in  any  audience  who  would  not  ad- 
mire and  applaud  such  heroic  deeds  though  they  might  fall 
far  short  of  the  nobleness  of  mind  which  would  enable  them 
to  do  likewise.  It  is  when  no  element  of  personal  interest 
hinders  the  soul  from  beeing  an  act  of  self-denial  in  its  di- 
vine loveliness  that  the  highest  motives  of  the  human  heart 
assert  themselves.  It  is  then  that  the  spark  kindled  from 
heaven  is  fanned  into  at  least  a  momentary  flame  and  the 
ignoblest  soul  manifests  its  divine  origin.  The  chief  spirit- 
ual nourishment  of  the  mediaeval  church  for  centuries  was 
the  lives  of  the  saints  which  abounded  in  acts  of  self-denial, 
voluntary  poverty  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  poor  and 
lowly.  The  legend  which  bore  the  current  epithet  of  the 
golden  and  which  Longfellow  has  clothed  in  a  modern 
poetic  garb  is  a  type  of  this  class  of  stories.  And  these 
gained  new  currency  by  the  example  of  many  whose  lives 
are  briefly  recorded  in  the  New  Testament.  No  matter 
how  little  is  told  us  of  the  representative  characters  therein 
named,  we  find  at  least  this,  that  they  strove  to  do  their 
Father's  will  rather  than  their  own.  It  was  not  alone  the 
divinity  of  Christ  that  charmed  the  world,  it  was  also  the 
essential  humanity  of  his  disciples  that  centered  not  in  self, 
but  in  others.  He  who  would  never  cease  to  grow,  intellectu- 
ally, morally  and  spiritually,  must  engage  in  a  life-long 
contest  with  the  unconscious  selfish  impulses  of  his  nature. 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  181 

I  am  not  of  those  who  look  back  with  regret  upon  those 
good  old  times,  as  men  of  superficial  knowledge  are  apt  to 
regard  them,  and  sigh  because  they  are  gone  never  to  re- 
turn. Yet  I  can  not  but  think  that  in  many  a  good  deed 
now  done  there  is  an  uncommonly  large  element  of  selfish- 
ness. The  times  foster  it.  This  will  generally  make  no 
difference  to  the  recipient,  but  it  detracts  from  the  purity 
of  the  favor  conferred.  Not  a  little  good  that  is  done  now- 
a-days  would  not  be  done  were  it  not  certain  that  it  would 
be  widely  reported.  It  may  be  true  that  as  Marcus  An- 
toninus says  it  is  in  accordance  with  man's  nature  to  be  con- 
cerned for  all  men ;  yet  it  is  equally  true  that  this  concern 
is  apt  to  remain  a  mere  sentiment  that  is  never  translated 
into  action. 

But  can  the  spirit  of  self-denial  never  be  mistaken? 
Certainly.  Men  may  exercise  it  so  as  neither  to  benefit 
themselves  nor  others.  If  not  kept  under  the  control  of 
reason  and  an  enlightened  conscience  it  leads  men  astray — 
sometimes  widely  astray.  It  is  a  darkened  intellect  and  a 
perverted  conscience  that  makes  the  fakir,  the  dervish,  the 
flagellant,  and  the  ascetic.  If  we  did  not  see  in  so  many 
other  matters  the  perverseness  of  men  to  go  amiss  through 
ignorant  fanaticism,  the  constant  tendency  to  mistake 
form  for  substance,  we  should  be  surprised  that  any  could 
be  found  who  saw  virtue  in  studiously  abstaining  from 
doing  good  to  others  and  <  in  doing  harm  to  themselves. 
Equally  wrong  is  the  man  who  denies  his  reason,  who  stul- 
tifies himself  to  believe  a  dogma  almost  on  the  sole  ground 
that  it  is  contrary  to  reason.  A  man  may  do  violence  to 
all  his  better  impulses  for 'what  he  regards  as  a  temporal 
advantage.  The  trimmer  in  politics  or  religion  practices 
self-denial,  but  it  is  to  no  one  more  evident  than  to  him- 
self, I  ween,  that  he  is  wronging  his  own  soul.  The  world 


182  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

belongs  to  those  who  can  practice  self-denial.  Few  men 
acquire  riches  by  accident:  they  are  generally  the  reward 
of  self-denial  in  early  life.  For  every  man  who  is  poor 
and  dependent  through  circumstances  over  which  he  has 
no  control,  a  score  are  poor  from  lack  of  self-denial  or 
rightly  directed  self-denial.  For  every  good  deed  that  we 
fail  to  do  because  of  inability,  we  fail  of  a  hundred  from 
lack  of  the  power  of  self-denial.  For  every  young  person 
who  does  not  succeed  in  life  from  lack  of  talents  a  thou- 
sand are  but  partially  successful  because  they  are  not  wil- 
ling to  pay  the  price  in  self-denial  that  alone  will  purchase 
what  all  are  eager  to  possess.  The  bitter  taste  of  the  bud 
deters  them  and  they  never  have  the  glorious  privilege  of 
looking  back  upon  the  flower  that  blooms  in  honest  achieve- 
ment. It  must  not  be  said  of  the  man  who  accomplishes 
little  in  this  world  from  lack  of  talent  to  do  more,  that  he 
has  failed.  They  only  fail  who  can  but  will  not,  whose 
efforts  end  where  they  begin,  in  self,  and  whose  mental  in- 
genuity is  chiefly  employed  in  devising  means  to  best  serve 
themselves  at  the  expense  of  their  fellow-man  without 
being  found  out.  The  world  in  its  moments  of  frivolity 
laughs  at  the  missionary  who  leaves  home  and  friends  to 
wear  out  his  life  among  savages  or  those  who  have  re- 
nounced what  is  best  in  civilization;  but  it  acknowledges 
in  its  better  moments  that  he  has  chosen  nobly.  A  great 
majority  of  men  ridicule  the  self-denial  and  devotion  of  the 
investigator  who  counts  truth  and  knowledge  of  more 
value  than  any  other  possession;  yet  they  may  be  re- 
minded in  a  thousand  ways  that  these  choice  spirits  are  the 
salt  of  the  earth  and  represent  the  high-water  mark  of 
human  progress.  The  world  is  pretty  sure  to  shrug  its 
shoulders  at  those  who,  born  to  position,  descend  volun- 
tarily from  their  natural  place  in  society  to  labor  among 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  183 

the  lowly;  yet  it  is  only  the  self-denying  efforts  of  such 
that  keeps  the  social  classes  from  arraying  themselves 
against  each  other  for  mutual  destruction. 

It  is  becoming  more  painfully  evident  from  day  to  day 
that  our  traditional  political  economy  needs  to  be  in  part 
reconstructed,  and  merged  in  or  at  least  largely  recon- 
sidered with  reference  to  that  wider  subject,  social  ethics. 
No  people  can  be  permanently  prosperous  whose  policy  it  is 
to  build  up  their  own  enterprises  at  the  expense  of  all 
other  nations.  The  doctrine  of  the  mutual  interdepend- 
ence of  all  governments  has  always  had  some  advocates, 
but  their  ideas  are  found  in  books  rather  than  in  practice. 
Albeit,  there  are  some  clear  signs,  it  seems  to  me,  that 
some  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  beginning  in  their 
dealings,  both  with  each  other  and  with  their  own  subjects, 
to  recognize  that  secure  possessions  are  more  to  be  valued 
than  large  ones.  And  I  would  fain  believe,  too,  that  an 
increasing  number  of  persons  are  coming  to  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  most  valuable  possessions  are  not  those  that 
can  be  measured  or  weighed  or  counted,  but  are  something 
far  less  gross,  and  in  several  senses  far  less  difficult  of  at- 
tainment. 

Christianity  is  pre-eminently  the  doctrine  of  self-denial. 
Not  that  it  has  not  been  taught  elsewhere  in  isolated  cases ; 
but  nowhere  else  is  there  so  much  stress  laid  on  the  fact 
that  it  is  better  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  children  of 
God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season.  The 
author  of  "Four  Phases  of  Morals"  truthfully  says :  "We 
must  observe  that  the  Christian  is  pre-eminently  equipped 
with  that  self-denial  and  self-control  *  *  *  which 
are  the  necessary  postulates  of  all  moral  excellence.  A 
man  who  will  take  the  world  easily  will  never  take  it 
grandly;  all  excellent  things  are  difficult.  The  Christian 


184  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

recognizes  the  difficulty  but  delights  in  it  as  the  stout  old 
Roman  did  in  the  foes  which  added  fuel  to  his  victories,  or 
as  the  strong  modern  engineer  does  in  mountains,  that 
he  may  show  the  triumph  of  his  art  in  boring  through 
them  or  in  winding  around  them.  The  man  of  genius  de- 
nies himself  in  a  thousand  ways  that  he  may  work  out  a 
perfect  body  for  the  imaginary  ideals  that  possess  him; 
the  great  soldier  denies  himself  through  leagues  of  hard- 
ships that  he  may  repel  the  rude  invader  and  preserve  the 
honor  of  his  country  unstained;  and  the  man  of  virtue 
must  deny  himself  also,  if  virtue  is  a  thing  which  a  crea- 
ture of  high  enterprise  and  lofty  purpose  may  reasonably 
have  to  do  with."  It  is  every  man's  bounden  duty  "to  real- 
ize as  much  goodness  as  possible  in  his  own  personal  life 
and  in  the  life  of  that  society  of  which  he  is  a  part,  by  the 
two-fold  process  of  nursing  virtues  and  weeding  out  vices : 
an  ideal  which  can  never  be  reached  by  those  who  com- 
mence life,  after  the  Epicurean  fashion,  with  a  low  calcula- 
tion of  pleasures  and  pains,  but  by  those  who  are  inspired 
by  the  vision  of  what  Plato  preached  as  divine  ideas  and 
Paul  as  divine  commands." 

The  vitality  of  this  doctrine  is  something  wonderful. 
Despite  the  constant  assaults  of  all  the  lower  impulses  in 
man's  nature  it  has  lived,  has  never  been  without  its  repre- 
sentatives. It  is  the  vital  and  vivifying  spark  that  is  found 
in  every  human  bosom.,  and  which  is  almost  sure  to  be 
at  least  occasionally  fanned  into  a  momentary  flame.  But 
in  the  heart  of  the  Christian  it  burns  steadily  casting  light 
upon  his  pathway  and  making  him  a  conspicuous  object 
among  his  fellow-men.  It  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  that 
Christianity  does  not  mean  ecclesiasticism,  yet  people  make 
no  more  frequent  mistake  than  to  regard  the  words  Chris- 
tian and  member  of  a  Christian  church  as  synonyms. 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  185 

Often  a  man's  zeal  in  behalf  of  his  church  makes  him  to- 
tally forgetful  of  what  his  profession  as  a  Christian  de- 
mands of  him.  Christ  Himself  founded  no  church,  but 
only  laid  down  a  rule  of  life  the  fundamental  precept  of 
which  is  that  men  ought  to  deny  themselves  in  obedience 
to  a  higher  law,  a  diviner  impulse.  But  alas  how  many 
mistake  form  for  substance,  ceremony  for  sacrifice,  and  a 
less  gross  form  of  selfishness  for  self-denial ! 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  evolutionary  doctrine  of 
ethics  would  look  coldly  upon  the  enthusiasm  of  kindness. 
But  it,  too,  is  found  upon  the  side  of  Christianity  when 
comparing  the  respective  merits  of  egoism  and  altruism. 
It  leaves  us  in  no  doubt  as  to  which  represents  the  higher 
law.  Its  great  Apostle  expresses  surprise  "that  any  one 
should  have  formulated  his  experience  by  saying  that  the 
conditions  to  success  are  a  hard  heart  and  a  sound  diges- 
tion." He  regards  this  formula  marvelous,  considering 
the  many  proofs  that  success,  even  of  a  material  kind,  de- 
pends upon  the  good  offices  of  others.  He  further  says: 
"That  to  see  that  those  who  care  nothing  for  the  feelings 
of  others  are,  by  implication  shut  out  from  a  wide  range 
of  aesthetic  pleasure  it  needs  but  to  ask  whether  men  who 
delight  in  dog-fights  may  be  expected  to  appreciate  Beetho- 
ven's Adelaide,  or  whether  Tennyson's  In  Memoriam 
would  greatly  move  a  gang  of  convicts." 

The  pedestrian  along  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Zug  in 
Switzerland  may  notice  near  the  highway  where  it  crosses 
a  narrow  valley,  a  plain  monument.  Drawing  near  he  may 
read  that  it  was  erected  to  commemorate  the  brave  deed 
of  a  young  man  who  lost  his  life  in  an  unselfish  but  vain 
attempt  to  rescue  two  girls  who  were  carried  down  the 
ravine  by  a  sudden  rise  of  the  mountain  stream  flowing 
through  it.  Had  he  died  the  death  of  thousands  of  his- 


186  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

peers  he  would  be  quietly  sleeping  to-day  in  an  unknown 
grave.  Though  the  three  persons  were  irrevocably  buried 
in  the  lake,  their  neighbors  were  not  willing  to  let  the 
memory  of  the  heroic  attempt  at  rescue  be  forgotten,  and 
they  in  their  humble  way  immortalized  it.  In  like  manner 
Grace  Darling,  Ida  Lewis  and  others  would  never  have 
been  known  outside  of  a  narrow  circle  had  not  similar  deeds 
immortalized  them  and  caused  their  names  to  be  placed -in 
every  cyclopedia. 

While  it  may  be  true  to  some  extent  that  the  evil  which 
men  do  lives  after  them,  it  is  not  so  tenacious  of  life  as 
the  good  that  they  have  done.  Each  succeeding  biographer 
of  the  men  and  women  whom  the  world  used  to  regard  aa 
bad  and  only  bad  finds  a  little  more  to  commend  in  their 
lives.  In  many  cases  a  single  good  deed  has  illuminated 
a  life  which  but  for  it  would  have  been  wholly  dark. 
Hardly  a  year  passes  that  we  do  not  hear  of  some  new  proj- 
ect to  commemorate  a  life  or  a  deed  that  had,  for  a  time, 
perhaps  for  centuries,  been  forgotten.  Time  makes  a  won- 
derful change  in  the  relative  importance  of  human  ac- 
tions. Stephen  Girard  was  an  important  man  in  his  day, 
but  he  is  now  remembered  not  because  of  his  wealth  as  a 
whole  but  because  of  that  portion  which  he  devoted  to  the 
establishment  and  support  of  a  college  for  orphans.  The 
millionaires  of  our  day  will  be  remembered  only  so  long  as 
the  monuments  of  their  benevolence  endure.  But  for  these, 
future  generations  will  take  no  more  interest  in  their 
names  than  it  does  in  that  of  Croesus  or  Lucullus. 

It  is  a  sorry  spectacle  to  see  a  man  or  woman  of  intelli- 
gence frittering  away  a  large  part  of  life  over  such  triviali- 
ties as  how  a  thing  is  to  be  eaten  or  how  it  is  to  be  worn. 
Not  that  such  things  are  not  entitled  to  any  share  of  our 
attention,  but  verily  not  the  chief  share.  What  does  justly 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  187 

claim  our  chief  attention  is  self-improvement  through  the 
diligent  and  constant  search  for  truth  and  knowledge,  and 
the  purification  of  the  soul  from  vulgar  fears  and  base  de- 
sires: those  things  which  tend  to  lead  us  in  pursuit  of 
that  which  is  worthy  of  a  true  man  or  woman.  Next  in 
order  come  those  objects  which  tend  to  elevate  the  com- 
munity of  which  we  form  a  part.  If  we  can  not  do  both 
we  can  at  least  do  one.  It  is  right  that  charity  should  be- 
gin at  home,  no  matter  how  narrow  the  circb  which  you 
designate  by  this  name;  but  it  is  worth  little  if  it  stops 
there.  To  do  these  things  so  as  to  accomplish  any  results 
worthy  of  the  name  there  is  needed  no  small  amount  of 
intelligence,  a  pure  heart  and  an  honest  purpose,  on  the 
part  of  our  better  and  higher  self  as  against  our  baser  and 
lower.  The  greater  part  of  our  efforts  will  not  be  appreci- 
ated by  our  contemporaries,  yet  they  will  not  therefore 
have  been  in  vain.  The  sublimest  courage  is  often  the 
courage  of  failure,  the  courage  to  lead  a  forlorn  hope. 
We  dare  not  say,  I  have  done  some  deeds  of  benevolence, 
but  they  were  not  appreciated  or  were  met  with  ingratitude, 
henceforth  I  propose  to  serve  myself  only.  It  is  those  few 
disinterested,  though  it  may  be  temporarily  unappreciated 
benefits,  that  are  from  time  to  time  conferred  upon  others 
that  advance  the  world,  and  elevate  the  human  race:  all 
the  rest  that  we  do  perishes  with  us,  or  in  the  doing. 

I  believe  that  the  true  philosophy  of  life  is  found  in 
the  words  of  that  mother  who  said,  "I  have  spent  more 
than  half  a  lifetime  of  self-denial  in  bringing  up  and 
properly  educating  a  large  family,  in  the  constant  effort  to 
set  them  a  worthy  example,  and  to  provide  for  them  every- 
thing really  needful.  And  now,  as  I  begin  to  see  that  my 
voluntary  cares  have  not  been  in  vain,  that  my  labors  do 


188  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

not  end  with  those  upon  whom  they  were  bestowed,  but 
go  on  in  ever  widening  circles,  I  am  a  thousand  times  re- 
paid. The  seedtime  and  the  sowing  that  was  spent  in 
sacrifice  is  nearly  past,  but  the  harvest  is  becoming  richer 
and  more  abundant  as  the  years  go  on." 

It  is  a  current  tradition  that  when  Anne  Boleyn  learned 
of  her  condemnation  she  said,  "I  care  little  what  becomes 
of  me — my  child  will  at  least  be  royal."  The  sentiment  is 
a  noble  one  and  well  worthy  of  the  mother  of  the  illus- 
trious Elizabeth.  But  it  may  have  a  wider  application. 
It  matters  little  what  becomes  of  each  present  generation 
if  that  which  succeeds  is  better  and  wiser. 

I  may  fitly  close  this  discourse  by  a  brief  reference  to  one 
of  Browning's  poems  in  which  as  in  so  many  others  the 
author  gives  us  his  interpretation  of  life  and  its  rela- 
tion to  duty.  In  "The  Boy  and  the  Angel"  a  boy  in  a 
monastery  follows  his  craft  as  a  shoemaker,  doing  his 
work  well  and  praising  God.  Blaise,  the  monk,  tells  him 
that  his  praise  reaches  his  Creator  as  surely  as  the  Pope's 
at  the  Easter  Festival  in  Home.  But  this  did  not  satisfy 
the  youth's  ambition;  he  longed  to  praise  God  in  some 
great  way.  In  time  he  realized  his  ambition,  and  with 
Gabriel's  help  became  Pope.  As  there  was  now  no  one 
to  do  the  work  the  boy  had  left  the  angel  took  his  place; 
however,  the  work  and  the  praise  were  not  the  boy'g. 
When  the  angel  became  conscious  of  this  he  went  to  Rome, 
found  there  the  Pope  preparing  the  great  Easter  Festival, 
proud  of  his  realized  ambition.  Gabriel  made  known  to 
him  life  as  he  now  sees  it :  man  can  only  do  God's  work  in 
his  own  proper  sphere.  The  Pope,  too,  saw  his  mistake, 
went  back  to  his  bench  and  remained  there  till  he  died.  A 


SELF-RENUNCIATION.  189 

new  Pope  dwelt  in  St.  Peters.     He  died  also,  and  both 
shoemaker  and  Pope  went  to  God  together. 

"One  vanished  as  the  other  died : 
They  sought  God  side  by  side." 

How  much  better  it  is  to  encourage  ourselves  as  well 
as  others  to  do  to  the  best  of  our  ability  whatever  is  worth 
doing  rather  than  to  strive  for  some  larger  sphere  in 
which  we  may  perhaps  waste  our  strength  in  the  struggle, 
so  that  even  if  we  reach  the  goal  of  our  ambition  we  shall 
have  little  energy  left  to  make  ourselves  useful  in  it.  If 
we  fail  our  life  is  sure  to  fall  short  of  its  full  fruition  and 
it  may  fall  far  short.  Better  is  it  to  be  a  thoroughly 
honest  and  competent  shoemaker  than  the  inefficient  ruler 
of  the  widest  realm  the  world  ever  saw, 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION. 

It  must  be  evident  to  every  one  who  takes  note  of  the 
main  current  of  contemporary  thought  that  it  is  essen- 
tially materialistic.  "Other-worldliness"  is  one  of  the  least 
prominent  characteristics  of  the  present  generation.  It  is 
bent  on  having  a  good  time  in  this  world,  be  the  conse- 
quences in  the  next  what  they  may.  In  education  the  cry  is, 
"Teach  facts,"  and  by  facts  thus  understood  are  always 
meant  external  phenomena,  rather  than  the  experiences  of 
psychic  life.  It  is  demanded  of  teachers  that  in  their  in- 
struction they  shall  lay  the  chief  stress  on  those  things  that 
can  be  weighed  and  measured  and  counted.  A  liberal  edu- 
cation, one  that  is  not  a  direct  aid  to  getting  on  in  the 
world,  has  come  to  be  almost  a  thing  of  the  past. 

It  is  not  here  contended  that  this  state  of  affairs  is 
wholly  new.  More  than  half  a  century  ago,  Thomas  Grad- 
grind,  who  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  a  class,  said,  "Now, 
what  I  want  is  facts.  Facts  alone  are  wanted  in  life. 
Plant  nothing  else  and  root  out  everything  else.  You  can 
only  form  the  mind  of  reasoning  animals  upon  facts ;  noth- 
ing else  will  ever  be  of  any  service  to  them.  This  is  the 
principle  upon  which  I  bring  up  my  own  children,  and  this 
is  the  principle  upon  which  I  bring  up  these  children. 
Stick  to  facts,  sir."  Yet,  as  is  so  often  the  case  in  this 

(190) 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  191 

world  reputed  to  be  so  thoroughly  matter-of-fact,  Grad- 
grind,  when  in  sore  trouble,  was  consoled  and  strengthened 
by  two  of  the  most  unpractical  people  imaginable.  While, 
then,  the  clamor  for  facts  is  not  now  heard  for  the  first 
time,  it  was  probably  never  heard  in  so  many  quarters,  nor 
does  it  seem  to  have  been  so  persistently  reiterated. 

In  view  of  these  conditions  it  will  be  interesting  to  take 
a  passing  glance  at  the  part  played  by  fiction,  the  culture 
of  the  imagination  through  poetry  and  the  novel,  in  the 
education  of  the  human  race.  Let  us  begin  with  the  peo- 
ple that  may  justly  be  regarded  as  the  torch-bearers  of 
civilization.  Such  a  survey,  however  brief,  must  make  it 
plain  that  the  fictitious  element  in  literature  has  been 
a  very  potent  force  in  human  progress — a  great  deal  more 
so  than  what  is  usually  called  history.  So  much  that  is 
subjective  is  injected  into  almost  all  history  .that  rises 
above  the  grade  of  mere  annals  that  if  the  reader  had  not 
the  names  of  leading  characters  to  guide  him  he  would 
sometimes  be  led  to  question  whether  two  authors  who  are 
professedly  dealing  with  the  same  period  or  persons  are  do- 
ing so  in  reality.  History,  if  of  any  value,  must  set  forth  the 
truth;  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  almost  all  history  is  re- 
written two  or  three  times  in  a  century,  and  always  ac- 
cording to  a  standard  more  or  less  determined  by  the  per- 
sonal equation  of  the  writer.  Less  than  half  a  dozen  his- 
torical works  produced  three  or  four  generations  ago  are 
still  regarded  as  well  worth  reading.  While  it  is  true  that 
time  has  not  dimmed  the  luster  or  impaired  the  value  of 
some  of  the  histories  that  have  survived  from  pre-chris- 
tian  times,  it  might  be  said  of  at  least  a  few  of  these  that 
they  are  the  only  records  we  have.  If  we  are  unwilling  to 
accept  their  testimony  there  is  nothing  to  put  in  their 
place.  Plainly,  then,  the  student  of  history  is  rarely  cer- 


192  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

tain  that  he  is  dealing  with  facts,  and  sticklers  for  facts 
can  hardly  hope  to  find  them  except  where  they  can  be 
brought  under  their  personal  observation  or  verified  by 
experiment. 

A  careful  study  of  the  laws  of  the  physical  universe  and 
their  application  to  the  affairs  of  life  has  probably  done 
much  to  increase  the  happiness  of  mankind;  yet  as  we 
have  no  method  by  which  we  can  measure  pleasure  and 
pain,  it  would  be  rash  to  affirm  this  with  pobitiveness.  But 
it  can  not  be  denied  that  our  knowledge  is  far  in  advance 
of  our  practice.  Would  it  not  be  a  fortunate  thing  for 
the  world  if  not  another  new  discovery  were  made  for  a 
hundred  years  to  come,  to  the  end  that  men  might  have 
time  to  make  full  use  of  what  they  already  know?  If 
progress  in  this  direction  were  barred,  the  next  two  or 
three  generations  would  have  time  to  exploit  fully  and  in 
a  practical  way  the  truths  that  are  already  common  prop- 
erty, as  well  as  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  man's 
spiritual  and  moral  needs.  The  saddest  reflection  sug- 
gested by  the  history  of  mankind  is  that  their  knowledge 
has  always  been  far  in  advance  of  practice. 

The  imagination  has  played  a  large  part  in  the  drama 
of  human  life  and  has  had  much  influence  in  shaping  the 
destinies  of  nations.  It  enables  men  to  put  themselves 
outside  of  their  bodies  and  above  their  milieu  where  they 
may  realize  with  greater  vividness  the  hopes,  feelings,  emo- 
tions and  sentiments  of  their  fellow-beings.  When  the 
imagination  is  kept  under  the  control  of  reason  and  trained 
by  logical  methods  so  that  it  shall  not  run  into  the  wild 
extravagances  that  characterize  the  literature  of  the  East, 
as  exemplified  in  the  Arabian  Nights,  it  is  man's  noblest 
faculty.  Its  influence  in  art,  in  literature,  in  morals, 
even  in  science,  can  not  easily  be  over-estimated.  The 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  193 

grade  of  civilization  that  a  people  has  attained  can  be 
measured  by  the  imaginative  literature  it  has  produced  and 
delights  in.  Such  being  the  case,  the  culture  and  training 
of  the  imagination  ought  to  receive  a  large  share  of  atten- 
tion on  the  part  of  educators. 

It  is  a  commonplace  among  intelligent  persons  that  the 
ancient  Athenians  were  the  most  cultured  people  of  which 
we  have  any  knowledge.  The  evidence  is  of  a  very  varied 
character.  The  most  convincing  is  that  furnished  by  their 
art,  their  literature  and  their  philosophy.*  But  there  is 
other  evidence  of  a  less  direct  and  tangible  character.  Liti- 
gants pleaded  their  own  cases  in  the  law-courts.  There 
was  in  Athens  a  class  of  men  whose  functions  correspond- 
ed in  some  measure  with  that  of  the  modern  attorney-at- 
law.  But  they  extended  no  further  than  the  writing  of 
pleas.  These  were  committed  to  memory  by  the  litigants 
and  spoken  before  the  jury.  There  are  still  extant  a  num- 
ber of  such  pleadings  that  are  classic  in  form,  though  the 
questions  at  issue  are  often  trivial.  The  speakers  were  fre- 
quently men  of  low  degree,  sometimes  of  the  lowest,  yet 
they  were  sufficiently  intelligent  to  put  their  cases  before 
the  jury  with  vigor  and  effect.  And  these  juries  always 
consisted  of  hundreds,  often  of  thousands  of  citizens.  How 
many  of  the  lawyers  of  our  day  are  competent  to  prepare 
pleas  that  are  worthy  of  a  moment's  consideration  as  to 
beauty  of  form?  A  lawyer  with  a  style  is  about  as  often 
met  with  as  a  white  elephant.  And  how  many  modern 
juries  composed  of  but  twelve  men  chosen  at  random  can 
distinguish  between  grammatical  and  ungrammatical  lan- 
guage? Not  one  in  a  thousand.  How  many  citizens 

*This  question  has  been  more  fully  discussed  in  two  essays  in 
this  volume. 
13 


194  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

who  are  not  professional  speakers  could  be  found  even  in 
our  most  intelligent  communities  who  would  undertake 
to  plead  their  own  case  before  the  ordinary  jury,  to  say 
nothing  of  a  large  audience,  no  matter  how  carefully  they 
prepared  beforehand?  We  are  forced  to  conclude  that 
every  male  Athenian  adult,  and  to  a  considerable  extent 
every  educated  Greek,  was  an  orator.  Take,  for  example, 
the  numerous  orations  scattered  through  the  works  of  their 
historians.  We  do  not  need  to  assume  that  the  speeches 
recorded  were  those  actually  delivered;  but  we  shall  not 
go  far  wrong  if  we  accept  them  as  embracing  the  spirit 
and  substance  of  what  was  said.  Most  of  them,  especially 
those  found  in  Thucydides,  exhibit  a  grasp  of  the  situation, 
a  discernment  of  motives,  a  keenness  of  analysis  and  a 
lucidity  of  exposition  that  not  only  bear  the  marks  of  veri- 
similitude, but  testify  likewise  to  the  splendid  intellectual 
training  of  the  speakers.  This  was  chiefly  due  to  the  so- 
cial conditions  that  prevailed  in  Greece,  especially  in  Ath- 
ens. Nearly  all  the  Greeks  laid  great  stress  on  the  abil- 
ity to  speak  well.  The  dialogue  plays  a  conspicuous  part 
in  Greek  literature;  speaking  and  hearing  rather  than 
reading  was  the  mode  by  which  intelligence  was  gained 
and  communicated.  The  social  habits  of  the  Greeks,  their 
eagerness  to  know — which  is  but  a  refined  form  of  curios- 
ity, from  which  it  always  springs  and  above  which  it  does 
not  often  rise — prompted  them  to  investigate  every  problem 
they  encountered,  while  the  paucity  of  books  made  them  as 
eager  to  listen  as  they  were  themselves  ready  to  contribute 
something  to  the  discussion.  So  late  as  the  time  of  the 
Apostle  Paul  there  was  no  lack  of  persons  on  the  qui  vive 
for  what  a  stranger  might  say.  Under  such  conditions 
every  conceivable  problem  of  human  interest  was  discussed 
in  a  semi-public  way,  while  problems  of  a  more  abstruse 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  195 

character  received  the  careful  attention  of  smaller  coteries 
of  philosophers.  No  one  needs  to  be  told  what  a  superla- 
tively excellent  mental  discipline  it  is  to  be  associated  with 
persons  who  habitually  express  themselves  with  precision 
and  conciseness,  nor  how  much  modern  life  loses  in  this 
respect  by  the  reading  habit.  The  finest  thoughts  are 
only  half  comprehended  in  the  haste  to  get  over  many 
pages.  Little  time  is  taken  for  reflection  and  none  for  re- 
production. 

If  by  education  we  mean  the  putting  in  action  all 
those  forces  that  enlighten  the  understanding,  stimulate 
the  power  of  thought  and  cultivate  the  taste,  the  ancient 
Greeks  had  formulated,  in  a  large  measure  unconsciously, 
an  educational  system  that  has  not  been  surpassed,  prob- 
ably not  equaled.  That  it  had  its  limitations  and  what 
they  were  has  to  some  extent  been  pointed  out  in  another 
paper.  When  we  consider  the  small  number  of  free  citi- 
zens that  Athens  contained  at  any  one  time  and  the  extra- 
ordinary large  proportion  of  great  men  among  them  we  are 
compelled  to  admit  that  a  like  condition  of  affairs  has  never 
existed  since.  Indeed  it  is  doubtful  whether  during  any 
one  century  in  the  history  of  the  world  there  have  lived  as 
many  men  that  have  exercised  so  profound  an  influence  oi> 
human  thought  as  those  who  spent  the  whole  or  part  of 
their  lives  in  one  small  city  in  the  century  that  was  about 
equally  divided  by  the  year  B.  C.  400.  What  will  seem 
most  surprising  to  many  persons  is  the  fact  that  this  in- 
tellectual pre-eminence  was  produced  upon  what  would  at 
the  present  day  be  regarded  as  pitifully  meager  pedagogical 
material.  This  consisted  of  little  else  than  the  Homeric 
Poems  and  political  institutions  of  such  a  type  that  the 
intellectual  powers  of  those  living  under  them  were  stimu- 
lated to  the  highest  degree.  The  Greek  people  were  in  a 


196  WISDOM  AND -WILL  IN  EDUCATION* 

large  measure  educated  in  fiction.  Of  course,  there  is 
fiction  and  fiction.  There  is  fiction  that  is  true  to  life  and 
there  is  fiction  that  is  but  the  wild  product  of  an  uncon- 
trolled imagination.  Greek  fiction  was  true  to  life.  It 
portrayed  the  passions,  the  desires,  the  emotions,  the  so- 
cial conditions  of  real  life:  conjugal  fidelity,  romantic 
love,  parental  and  filial  affection,  sorrow  for  the  dead,  per- 
sonal bravery,  indignation  at  real  or  supposed  grievances, 
cunning,  fortitude,  patriotism,  resignation,  and  so  on. 
Well  might  their  greatest  critic,  the  "master  of  those  who 
know,"  say  that  poetry  is  more  philosophical  than  history. 
He  explains  that  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  poet  to  set 
forth  reality,  but  rather  that  which  is  possible  according 
to  the  laws  of  probability  and  necessity.  Or,  as  the  author 
of  "The  Last  Days  of  Pompeii"  expresses  it,  "The  first 
art  of  the  Poet  (the  Creator)  is  to  breathe  the  breath  of 
life  into  his  creatures — the  next  is  to  make  their  words 
and  actions  appropriate  to  the  era  in  which  they  are  to 
speak  and  act.  No  man  who  is  thoroughly  aware  of  what 
Prose  Fiction  has  become — of  its  dignity,  of  its  influence, 
of  the  manner  in  which  it  has  gradually  absorbed  all  sim- 
ilar departments  of  literature,  of  its  power  in  teaching 
as  well  as  amusing — can  so  far  forget  its  connection  with 
History,  with  Philosophy,  with  Politics — its  utter  harmony 
with  Poetry  and  obedience  to  Truth — as  to  debase  its  na- 
ture to  the  level  of  scholastic  frivolities :  he  raises  scholar- 
ship to  the  creative,  and  does  not  bow  the  creative  to  the 
scholastic."  Though  Greek  fiction,  or  poetry,  if  that  name 
be  preferred,  attained  its  final  and  classic  form  in  the 
Iliad  and  the  Odyssey,  we  know  from  the  tragedies  and 
from  other  sources  that  these  poems  represent  a  compara- 
tively small  part  of  an  immense  mass  of  similar  tradition. 
Owing  to  the  innate  propensity  of  the  human  mind  for  con- 


FICTION  A8  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  197 

crete  thinking,  names  stand  for  types.  Thus  the  poet 
arouses  an  interest  in  his  men  and  women  when  clothed  in 
flesh  and  blood  and  named  that  could  be  affected  in  no 
other  way.  Impersonal  character  studies  are  to  most  peo- 
ple insufferably  dull  reading.  To  the  majority  of  the 
Greeks  their  national  heroes  were  real  persons,  and  some 
of  them  may  have  been  so,  but  others  judged  more  cor- 
rectly: }ret  even  with  this  deduction  their  legends  had 
their  interest  and  value,  as  they  still  have.  They  are  por- 
trayals of  Greek  life,  thought,  and  institutions.  They 
could  scarcely  be  less  true  if  such  persons  as  Agamem- 
non and  Achilles,  Hector  and  Andromache,  Ulysses  and 
Penelope  and  many  others  never  existed.  In  this  re- 
spect they  are  to  be  classed  with  the  great  novels  of  which 
the  present  century  has  produced  such  a  number  that  it 
seems  invidious  to  name  any.  It  would  be  hard,  if  not 
impossible,  to  point  out  works  professing  to  be  history 
that  are  truer  to  life  than  Waverley,  Guy  Mannering,  and 
Ivanhoe;  than  Tom  Jones  or  Lorna  Doone  or  Romola. 
What  single  book  gives  the  reader  a  more  just  idea  of  the 
means  and  methods  by  which  France  was  consolidated  than 
Quentin  Durward;  or  of  the  character  and  last  days  of 
Charles  the  Bold,  than  Anne  of  Geierstein ;  or  of  the  mor- 
als of  a  certain  class  of  Englishmen  and  English  women 
during  the  Napoleonic  era,  than  Vanity  Fair,  or  of  the 
feelings  of  the  common  people  in  France  during  the  same 
period,  than  the  Erckman-Chatrian  novels?  In  all  these 
the  purely  fictitious  is  no  more  than  the  frame  in  which 
the  picture  is  set  or  the  canvas  on  which  it  is  painted.  It 
may  be  compared  to  the  sugar-coating  on  the  pill;  the 
medicine  thus  disguised  is  easier  to  swallow  while  its  effi- 
cacy is  in  nowise  impaired.  The  life  of  Washington  as  a 
whole  is  none  the  less  true  or  his  character  none  the  less 


198  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

correctly  portrayed  if  the  story  of  the  hatchet  be  a  myth; 
nor  is  Tell  any  the  less  truly  a  representative  man  of  his 
time  if  a  person  bearing  this  name  never  existed.  The 
tragic  death  of  Antigone,  as  represented  by  the  poet,  for 
performing  what  she  believed  to  be  a  pious  duty  moves  us 
no  less  profoundly  than  the  closing  scene  in  the  cell  of 
Socrates  as  set  forth  by  the  historian.  For  the  culture  of 
the  mind  and  heart,  psychological  truth  is  more  valuable 
than  the  historical  verities;  it  is  neither  limited  in  time 
nor  confined  by  space.  Hamerton  has  well  stated  the 
case  when  he  says,  "Thackeray  and  Balzac  will  make  it 
possible  for  our  descendants  to  live  over  again  in  the  Eng- 
land and  France  of  to-day.  Seen  in  this  light  the  novel- 
ist has  a  higher  office  than  merely  to  amuse  his  contem- 
poraries ;  he  hands  them  down  all  living  and  talking  to  the 
remotest  ages."  Thackeray  himself  said,  "Out  of  the 
fictitious  book  I  get  the  expression  of  the  life,  of  the  times, 
of  the  manners,  of  the  merriment,  of  the  dress,  the  plea- 
sure, the  laughter,  the  ridicule  of  society;  the  old  times 
live  over  again  and  I  tread  in  the  old  country  of  England. 
Can  the  heaviest  historian  do  more  for  me." 

If  we  desire  to  harmonize  our  conduct  with  the  moral 
order  of  the  world  or  contemplate  the  manifestation  of  the 
laws  of  beauty  and  truth  we  can  find  lessons  anywhere 
and  everywhere. 

The  common  people  of  mediaeval  Europe  fed  the  crav- 
ings of  their  moral  nature  almost  entirely  on  fairy  tales 
and  legendary  lore  of  a  similarly  unhistorical  character. 
Amid  the  social  chaos  of  a  thousand  years  the  sagas  of  the 
Mbelungen  Circle,  the  stories  of  the  Knights  of  the  Round 
Table  and  the  myths  that  attached  themselves  to  the  name 
of  Charlemagne— the  last  two  especially — are  noteworthy 
for  certain  moral  qualities  that  pervade  them  in  spite  of 


FICTION  A8  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  199 

much  that  grates  harshly  on  modern  nerves.  The  Gesta 
Romanorum  and  Aesop's  Fables,  with  their  numerous 
progeny,  are  more  prosaic,  more  allegorized  and  more  di- 
rectly didactic.  While  much  of  this  literature  has  its  som- 
ber side,  I  recall  but  one  popular  allegory  that  sets  forth 
in  detail  the  career  of  a  successful  villain,  namely  Reynard 
the  Fox.  Yet  even  this  cunning  rogue  is  more  shrewd  than 
wicked.  Usually  he  makes  his  enemies  to  fall  into  the 
same  pit  they  had  digged  for  him.  Generally  the  authors 
of  mediaeval  romances  of  whatever  name  or  sort  linger 
with  evident  satisfaction  on  the  virtues  of  courage,  self-sac- 
rifice, chastity  and  their  kin.  They  rarely  fail  to  make 
prominent  those  higher  aspirations  that  dwell  in  the  bo- 
soms of  almost  all  men  and  at  times  influence  even  the 
worst.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  founder  of  Chris- 
tianity manifested  a  deep  interest  in  children  and  that 
his  immediate  successors  followed  his  example  the  peda- 
gogy of  the  Christian  Church  almost  up  to  our  own  day 
was  brutal  in  the  extreme.  Not  only  is  this  true  of  the 
schools,  but  family  government  was  usually  of  the  same 
type.  Hardly  anybody  seems  to  have  cared  to  take  the 
trouble  to  understand  children.  Every  real  or  supposed 
delinquency  was  treated  as  a  willful  crime,  not  as  the  re- 
sult of  an  error  of  judgment.  The  government  and  train- 
ing of  children  remained  essentially  heathen  long  after 
Europe  had  become  nominally  Christian.  The  Roman 
Orbilius,  whom  the  poet  Horace  has  immortalized  with  the 
epithet  "plagosum,"  has  had  a  numerous  spiritual  prog- 
eny. I  remember  a  saying  of  Luther's  to  the  effect  that  he 
was  whipped  at  school  fourteen  times  in  a  single  half-day. 
At  home  he  fared  but  little  better.  I  recall  but  one  child 
that  is  treated  by  an  ancient  classical  author  with  marked 
interest  and  affection:  it  is  the  boy  Ascanius.  But  he  is 


200  WISDOM  AXD  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

chiefly  of  importance  to  Virgil  because  he  is  destined  to 
be  the  progenitor  of  a  royal  house.  It  is  true  Plato,  Quin- 
tillian  and  other  writers  have  more  or  less  to  say  about  the 
training  of  children ;  but  the  former  regards  them  as  a  sort 
of  necessary  evil,  a  species  of  wild  animal  that  needs  to 
be  tamed  before  anything  can  be  made  of  him.* 

Careful  students  of  Shakespeare  have  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  in  spite  of  his  many-sidedness  he  shows  little 
sympathy  with  children  and  child-life.  When  he  appears 
to  take  any  interest  in  children — and  this  is  rarely — his 
interest  is  akin  to  that  which  we  find  manifested  in  Greek 
and  Roman  antiquity;  it  is  not  because  of  what  they  are 
but  because  of  what  they  may  become  or  on  account  of  the 
importance  of  their  ancestors.  With  all  his  myriad-mind- 
edness  the  prince  of  poets  could  or  would  not  grasp  the  sig- 
nificance of  childhood  in  the  development  of  the  human 
race.  That  it  is  possible,  in  a  great  measure,  to  change 

*Terence  says:  "He  is  sadly  mistaken,  at  least  in  my  opinion, 
who  holds  that  the  government  is  more  potent  or  more  stable 
which  constrains  by  force  rather  than  binds  by  amity.  This  is  my 
way  of  thinking,  and  so  I  have  made  up  my  mind.  He  who  per- 
forms his  duty  under  compulsion  only  does  so  as  long  as  he  thinks 
he  is  watched.  When  he  believes  that  he  is  not  observed  he  re- 
turns to  his  natural  state  of  mind.  He  whom  you  bind  by  a 
favor  acts  in  sincerity,  seeks  to  repay  in  kind,  and,  whether 
present  or  absent,  remains  the  same.  This  is  a  father's  duty: 
to  accustom  his  son  to  do  right  of  his  own  accord  rather  than 
from  fear  of  another.  This  is  the  difference  between  a  father 
and  a  master.  Let  him  who  can  not  do  this  acknowledge  that 
he  does  not  know  how  to  manage  his  children." 

These  reflections  are  not  original  with  the  Roman  poet.  Socra- 
tes and  other  Greek  thinkers  had  said  the  same  thing  centuries 
before.  That  you  can  not  always  trust  to  mild  measures  goes 
without  saying;  that  they  ought  to  be  the  rule,  not  the  excep- 
tion, should  be  equally  self-evident. 


FICTION  A8  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  201 

the  course  of  events  by  the  judicious  training  of  children 
seems  not  to  have  occurred  to  him.  Most  of  his  dramas 
show  that  a  fundamental  article  of  his  creed  was,  If  you 
do  wrong,  if  you  sin  against  the  moral  order  of  the  world 
you  will  surely  be  punished  for  your  evil  deeds;  but  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  him  that  society  is  under 
obligations  so  to  train  the  rising  generation  that  when  it 
comes  upon  the  scene  of  active  life  it  shall  deviate  from  the 
right  as  little  as  possible. 

Interest  in  childhood  and  children  really  dates  from  the 
time  of  Rousseau.  Of  this  paradoxical  man  it  may  almost  be 
said  that  he  discovered  children;  he  at  least  succeeded  in 
convincing  the  world  that  they  have  rights  that  adults  are 
bound  to  respect.  No  single  writer  has  contributed  so 
much  toward  revolutionizing  the  current  theories  of  educa- 
tion as  he.  Everybody  read  his  books,  and  to  read  was  to 
be  converted  to  his  theory.  Here  was  a  man  who  at  last 
realized  to  its  full  significance  that  instruction  should  be 
adapted  to  the  child,  not  the  child  forced  to  conform  as  well 
as  might  be  to  a  ready-made  system.  As  no  one  had  ever 
seriously  attempted  to  put  in  practice  such  a  theory  as  he 
advocated,  except  possibly  on  a  small  scale,  he  was  obliged 
to  resort  to  fiction  to  show  how  his  plans  were  to  be  carried 
out.  Like  all  writers  of  fiction  he  exaggerated.  Not  only 
did  he  paint  social  conditions  darker  than  they  were,  but 
he  proposed  reforms  than  can  never  be  realized  to  the  ex- 
tent that  he  believed  possible.  In  order  to  get  something 
he  demanded  a  great  deal.  In  order  to  make  his  readers 
see  the  need  of  a  process  of  purification  for  the  social  system 
he  boldly  asserted  that  society  was  rotten  to  the  core.  In 
order  to  expose  the  defects  of  the  current  educational  meth- 
ods he  declared  unequivocally  that  they  were  without  a 
single  redeeming  feature.  Except  for  him  we  should  never 


202      ,          WISDOM  AND  WFLL  IN  EDUCATION. 

have  had  Pestalozzi  and  all  that  his  name  implies  in  the 
history  of  modern  education. 

Among  England's  great  writers  Wordsworth  early  in  life 
showed  a  deep  interest  in  children  and  gave  his  studies  of 
child-life  an  artistic  form.  Before  the  year  1800  he  had  writ- 
ten, "We  Are  Seven,"  "Anecdotes  for  Fathers,"  "The  Idiot 
Boy,"  "Matthew,"  and  "Ruth."  During  his  whole  life 
he  occasionally  recurred  to  similar  themes,  though  the  pub- 
lic was  for  a  long  time  rather  indifferent.  Though  Lamb 
might  find  fault  with  Wordsworth's  poetry  because  "the 
instructions  conveyed  in  it  were  too  direct;  they  don't 
slide  into  the  mind  of  the  reader  when  he  is  imagining  no 
such  thing,"  Wordsworth  was  fully  aware  of  this  and  con- 
tinued his  chosen  course  with  a  full  knowledge  of  what  he 
was  doing.*  He  said,  "Every  great  poet  is  a  teacher;  I 
wish  to  be  considered  as  a  teacher  or  as  nothing."  Still 
some  of  his  teaching  might  have  been  more  effective  if  it 
had  been  less  obtrusive,  and  a  good  deal  of  his  poetry 
would  probably  be  less  tiresome  if  less  didactic. 

About  the  same  time  Miss  Edgeworth  with  her  Tales 
contributed  a  good  deal  to  dispel  the  popular  fallacy  that 
teaching  the  young  is  a  mere  trade  that  can  be  picked  up 
by  anybody,  and  promoted  the  enlightenment  of  the  Brit- 
ish public  on  the  importance  of  a  better  education  for  the 
young.  The  pedagogic  influence  of  such  female  writers 
as  Mrs.  Barbauld,  Hannah  More,  Fanny  Buraey,  Maria 
Edgeworth,  Jane  Austen  and  others  seems  to  have  been 
helpful  and  far-reaching;  yet  educational  reforms  in  Great 
Britain  went  their  own  way  and  were  but  slightly  influ- 

*In  1809  there  appeared  in  London  two  volumes  of  "Poetry  for 
Children,  Entirely  Original."  By  the  Author  of  Mrs.  Leicester's 
School  (Charles  and  Mary  Lamb).  The  edition  must  have  been 
very  small,  as  copies  are  excessively  rare. 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  203 

euced  by  Continental  thought.  The  female  writers  above 
named,  however,  did  much  to  enlighten  the  general  public 
and  improve  the  elementary  schools,  or  at  least  the  instruc- 
tion given  in  them.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  En- 
glish pedagogy  of  a  certain  type  owes  so  much  to  women, 
though  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  this  should  be  so,  and 
the  Continent  so  little,  which  may  be  regarded  as  unnat- 
ural. About  1775  Mrs.  Barbauld's  "Early  Lessons"  ap- 
peared, and  the  fact  is  only  mentioned  here  because  it  is 
said  to  have  been  published  at  a  time  when,  as  Hannah 
More  said,  there  was  nothing  for  children  to  read  between 
Cinderella  and  the  Spectator.  Extracts  from  the  writings 
of  this  gifted  woman  were  quite  numerous  in  the  reading 
books  used  by  men  and  women  not  yet  past  middle  life. 
In  Germany  Campe's  Robinson  Junior  passed  through 
more  than  fifty  editions  before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  It  was  one  of  the  first  books  written  expressly 
for  children.  In  his  day  Luther  found  reason  to  exclaim, 
"This  is  a  hard  world  for  girls,"  and  if  he  had  lived  three 
hundred  years  later  he  might  still  have  added  "and  indeed 
for  all  children/'  Happily  for  them  they  were  not  aware 
of  it. 

It  may  strike  the  average  reader  as  somewhat  amusing 
to  hear  Charles  Dickens  classed  among  the  great  educators 
— this  man  whom  most  people  regard  as  the  author  of  but 
one  serious  book,  "A  Child's  History  of  England;"  yet 
if  the  work  of  an  educator  be  to  enlighten  public  opinion 
and  to  interest  his  readers  in  the  training  of  the  young  in 
a  large  sense,  Dickens  was  pre-eminently  an  educational 
reformer.  He  instructed  the  public  without  the  public 
being  aware  of  it.  Horace  said  long  ago:  "Quamquam 
ridentem  dicere  verum  quid  vetat?  ut  pueris  olim  dant 
crustula  blandi  Doctores  elementa  velint  ut  discere  prima." 


204  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

This  method  of  instruction  Dickens  employed  on  a  large 
scale  and  with  eminent  success.  Dean  Stanley  said  of  him, 
"He  taught  the  world  great  lessons  of  the  eternal  value 
of  generosity,  of  purity,  of  kindness  and  unselfishness." 
And  Webster  was  not  far  afield  when  he  said  that  Dickens 
did  more  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  English  poor 
than  all  the  great  statesmen  Great  Britain  sent  to  Parlia- 
ment. If  a  Parliamentary  committee  had  reported  on  the 
condition  of  such  establishments  as  Dotheboys  Hall  and 
Stone  Lodge,  how  many  persons  would  have  read  their  re- 
port ?  How  many  would  have  believed  it  ?  Yet  we  are  as- 
sured that  this  writer  of  fiction  made  such  concerns  hence- 
forth impossible.  What  higher  praise  could  any  man 
covet  than  to  have  it  said  of  him,  "He  has  not  only  pleased 
us — he  has  softened  the  hearts  of  a  whole  j^eneration.  He 
has  made  charity  fashionable;  he  awakened  pity  in  the 
hearts  of  sixty  millions  of  people.  He  made  a  whole  gen- 
eration keep  Christmas  with  acts  of  helpfulness  to  the  poor, 
and  every  barefoot  boy  in  the  streets  of  England  and  Amer- 
ica to-day  fares  a  little  better,  gets  fewer  cuffs  and  more 
pudding"  because  Charles  Dickens  wrote.  If  it  is  the  high- 
est attainment  of  art  to  conceal  art,  Dickens  was  a  master 
artist.  He  seems  to  have  always  to  have  written  with  a 
purpose,  though  few  people  suspected  it.  As  tributary  to 
the  main  theme  of  some  of  his  books  it  was  essential  that 
he  should  hold  up  to  ridicule  or  to  execration  such  crea- 
tures as  Creakle,  Choakumchild,  Squeers,  Pecksniff  and 
their  like.  How  he  interested  and  instructed  the  public 
everybody  knows.  Dickens  was  not  only  the  first  English 
author  to  assign  a  conspicuous  place  to  children  in  his 
works  of  fiction,  but  he  created  types  that  will  endure  a« 
long  as  his  writings.  He  possessed  that  consummate  artis- 
tic skill  which  enabled  him  to  make  children  interesting 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  205 

without  making  them  unnatural.  Little  Dorrit,  Little 
Nell,  Little  Paul,  Oliver  Twist  and  others  of  his  juvenile 
characters  have  become  household  words. 

Recent  French  literature  brings  to  our  attention  some 
interesting  children  of  both  sexes.  Little  Gavroche  is  a 
masterly  study  of  the  typical  Paris  gamin.  But  his  un- 
timely end  leaves  a  sad  impression  on  the  mind  of  the 
reader.  An  English  writer  would  hardly  have  closed  the 
career  of  the  poor  waif  as  Hugo  has  done.  On  the  other 
hand  the  vicissitudes  of  Cosette,  in  spite  of  her  ignoble 
origin,  arouse  a  multitude  of  varied  emotions  in  the  reader 
and  exhibit  the  remarkable  gifts  of  the  great  Frenchman 
in  a  striking  light.  Indeed,  Hugo,  is  at  his  best  when  por- 
traying children.  Rose  and  Blanche,  in  the  "Wandering 
Jew/'  are  two  girls  that  hold  the  attention  of  the  reader 
through  a  long  and  somewhat  rambling  story.  The  myriad 
minded  Balzac  is  also  at  home  in  this  field.  Little  Pierre 
in  George  Sand's  Mare  au  Diable  is  a  delightful  study 
and  serves  to  show  both  the  skill  of  the  distinguished  au- 
thor and  her  insight  into  the  juvenile  mind.  German  lit- 
erature, too,  possesses  an  extensive  gallery  of  children's 
portraits;  which  is  but  natural  for  the  land  that  has  pro- 
duced the  charming  Tales  collected  by  the  Brothers  Grimm 
and  others.  The  novelists  had  lovingly  studied  Children 
long  before  the  psychologists  thought  of  doing  so,  and 
many  of  them  were  quite  as  successful,  if  they  did  not 
follow  strictly  scientific  methods.  Verily,  ours  is  the  age 
of  children. 

Just  as  we  can  gauge  the  culture  of  an  individual  by  the 
kind  of  fiction  he  reads  when  left  to  his  own  choice,  so  we 
can,  at  least  in  a  great  measure  estimate  the  moral  qualities 
of  a  nation  by  the  imaginative  literature  on  which  it  feeds. 
It  is  perhaps  unduly  venturesome  to  pronounce  judgment 


20G  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

upon  a  people's  literature  except  after  a  very  wide  reading ; 
yet  I  am  compelled  to  believe  that  there  is  a  sad  lack  of 
that  imaginative  element  in  French  literature,  including 
its  poetry,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  Latin  nations  generally, 
which  discerns  intuitively  the  moral  order  of  the  world 
and  seeks  to  represent  it  concretely  both  in  the  life  of  in- 
dividuals and  in  the  social  group.  No  German  or  English 
poet  would  treat  the  memory  of  a  national  character  of 
such  prominence  and  sanctity  as  Joan  of  Arc,  as  Voltaire, 
the  greatest  name  in  French  literature  has  treated  hers. 
Matthew  Arnold  rightly  says :  "When  we  look  at  the  popu- 
lar literature  of  the  French  at  this  moment  and  at  the  life 
of  which  this  literature  of  theirs  is  the  index,  one  is 
tempted  to  make  a  goddess  out  of  a  word  of  their  own,  and 
then,  like  the  town-clerk  of  Ephesus,  to  ask,  'What  man 
is  there  that  knoweth  not  that  the  city  of  the  French  is  a 
worshipper  of  the  great  goddess  Lubricity  ?' ''  French 
literature  is  primarily  scientific  in  spirit;  then  ascetic  in 
form,  and  only  lastly  ethical  in  purpose.  In  English  fic- 
tion these  three  attributes  are  reversed. 

Of  Germany's  great  literary  trinity,  at  least  two  mem- 
bers, Lessing  and  Schiller,  persistently  keep  the  moral  ele- 
ment in  the  foreground,  while  Goethe  divides  his  atten- 
tion about  equally  between  the  three  factors.  Is  it  too 
much  to  say  that  the  remarkable  growth  and  expansion  of 
the  Germanic  peoples,  especially  those  whose  native  speech 
is  English,  as  compared  with  the  static  condition  of  the  Latin 
races,  is  largely  due  to  their  view  of  life  as  reflected  in 
their  imaginative  literature?  The  person  who  fears  not 
God  nor  regards  man  is  a  favorite  character  in  French  fic- 
tion. Not  so  in  English.  The  English  have  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  eminently  practical ;  but  in  their  fiction  they 
are  pronounced  idealists.  The  ever  recurrent  theme,  the 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  207 

one  on  which  constant  changes  are  rung,  is  the  need  of 
moral  and  social  regeneration.  In  the  realm  of  the  imag- 
ination no  leading  part  must  be  assigned  to  the  man  or 
woman  that  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  moral  order,  by  a 
writer  who  seeks  popularity.  What  is  morally  hideous 
must  be  kept  in  the  background.  In  French  fiction  the 
conditions  are  in  a  great  measure  reversed.  The  villain 
is  a  favorite  character.  Ignoble  characters  and  the  social 
conditions  amid  which  he  moves  and  thrives  are  a  favorite 
theme.  Noble  characters  are  not  lacking,  but  they  are 
too  often  weak;  they  arouse  our  sympathy  more  than  they 
excite  our  admiration.  They  seem  to  be  created  merely 
to  provide  victims  for  the  strong  and  wicked. 

America  has  not  been  behind  the  other  civilized  nations 
in  assigning  an  important  place  to  children  in  its  literature 
of  fiction.  Many  of  the  novels  of  the  last  half  century 
are  veritable  revelations  in  this  regard.  It  would  be  an 
interesting  study  for  one  who  had  the  time  and  the  ca- 
pacity for  such  work,  to  extract  from  representative  recent 
novels  the  varied  conceptions  of  childhood  as  set  forth  by 
their  authors.  What  has  already  been  done  has  shown 
that  Wordsworth  was  right  when  he  called  the  child  father 
to  the  man,  and  that  the  field  for  the  study  of  child-types 
is  almost  as  illimitable  as  that  offered  for  the  study  of 
adults.  It  would  not  be  the  less  interesting  to  estimate,  so 
far  as  that  is  possible,  the  debt  the  children  of  the  present 
generation  owe  to  these  delightful  and  instructive  studies. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  important  place  assigned  to 
children  in  modern  fiction  has  produced  the  most  far- 
reaching  results,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  of  permanent 
psychological  importance.  As  has  already  been  shown,  an- 
tiquity took  little  interest  in  children.  The  Middle  Ages 
followed  its  example.  Of  all  the  Greek  poets  Euripides 


208  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

had  the  widest  sympathies  and  the  largest  intellectual  out- 
look, if  not  the  deepest  penetration.  He  brings  several 
children  on  the  stage  in  his  dramas.  But  what  caricatures 
they  are !  He  shows  at  once  that  he  knew  nothing  about 
the  mind  of  the  child,  for  we  may  be  sure  that  the  chil- 
dren of  his  day  were  not  so  unlike  those  of  our  own  that 
they  talked  and  acted  like  adults.  He  makes  it  plain  to 
his  readers  that  he  never  thought  it  worth  while, — perhaps 
he  considered  it  beneath  his  dignity, — to  try  to  comprehend 
a  child's  thoughts  and  feelings. 

The  wide  currency  of  the  fables  attributed  to  Aesop  has 
already  been  alluded  to.  In  fact,  the  Fable,  the  Allegory 
and  the  Parable  or  Story  have  from  time  immemorial  been 
favorite  vehicles  of  instruction  among  peoples  both  civilized 
arid  uncivilized.  The  phenomenal  popularity  of  Bunyan's 
works,  especially  his  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  the  greatest 
and  best  sustained  allegory  ever  written,  is  well  known. 
While  it  is  not  historically  true,  and  the  author's  dramatis 
personae  never  existed  under  the  names  he  gives  to  them, 
they  are  real  men  and  real  women  nevertheless;  the  situ- 
ations in  which  he  places  them  are  so  true  to  life  that  every 
Christian  recognizes  at  a  glance  the  experience  they  are 
designed  to  portray.  Christ  frequently  conveys  His  les- 
sons in  the  form  of  a  parable,  and  those  of  Jotham  and 
Nathan  in  the  Old  Testament  are  among  the  best  of  their 
kind.  The  fables  current  under  the  name  of  Pilpay  be- 
long to  the  oldest  in  existence.  Their  origin  reaches  back 
to  the  remotest  antiquity.  "In  India  from  the  earliest 
time  the  parable  or  example  has  been  the  recognized 
method  of  conveying  moral  instruction.  In  the  didactic 
literature,  some  general  truth  or  some  rule  of  life  is  stated 
in  the  form  of  a  maxim  and  a  fable  or  other  story  is  added 
as  a  concrete  instance.  The  folk-lore  of  which  these  are 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  209 

a  reflex  is  not  the  exclusive  property  of  the  great  religions 
of  India,  but  is  common  to  Buddhism,  Jainism  and  Brah- 
nianism  alike/'  A  selection  from  these  fables  is  contained 
in  one  of  the  earliest  books  printed;  and  their  popularity 
is  attested  by  the  fact  that  four  editions  were  issued  from 
the  press  in  Ulm  between  1483  and  1485.  In  about  a  cen- 
tury the  number  of  editions  had  increased  to  seventeen. 
Professor  Lanman  says :  "The  great  number  of  editions  of 
the  work  and  their  rapid  succession  are  the  best  proof  of 
its  importance  as  a  means  of  instruction  and  amusement 
at  the  beginning  of  the  age  of  printing.  The  examples 
themselves  had  doubtless  pointed  the  moral  of  many  an  an- 
cient homily  before  the  days  of  Gutenberg." 

Notwithstanding  Christ's  rebuke  to  those  who  thought 
he  ought  to  ignore  children,  it  was  not  till  after  the  lapse 
of  nearly  eighteen  centuries  that  the  world  began  to  take 
his  exhortation  to  heart.  Both  Christians  and  non-Chris- 
tians now  sought  to  turn  toward  the  most  important  mem- 
bers of  the  family.  Through  literature,  in  fiction  and  in 
life,  practical  philanthropists  began  to  labor  with  increas- 
ing earnestness  for  the  amelioration  of  their  condition  and 
to  make  some  amends  for  the  long  neglect.  At  last  their 
claims  upon  the  adult  world  received  recognition  here  and 
there.  It  hardly  admits  of  a  doubt  that  the  relatively 
rapid  progress  of  pedagogic  science  within  the  last  half 
century  is  more  due  to  fiction  than  to  any  other  single 
agency.  Its  unlimited  resources  enable  the  novelist  to 
study  and  exhibit  society  from  every  possible  point  of  view. 
While  then  fiction  has  from  time  immemorial  been  the 
greatest  teacher  of  the  world  it  has  recently  become  not 
only  a  preacher  but  a  practical  reformer. 

If  we  were  to  eliminate  from  the  literature  of  the  world 
the  element  that  is  usually  regarded  as  fictitious,  all  the 

14 


210  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IX  EDUCATION. 

delightful  aroma  that  pleases  and  attracts  would  go  with 
it.  Such  a  process  would  deprive  us  of  B'omer  and  Virgil 
and  the  great  tragedies  of  ancient  Greece.  It  would  take 
from  us  the  Nibelungen  sagas,  the  Divina  Commedia,  Don 
Quixote  and  Faust.  It  would  expunge  the  greater  part  of 
our  poetry  and  the  most  attractive  of  our  prose.  If  it  did 
not  sweep  away  wholly  the  fruitage  it  would  leave  us  little 
of  the  bloom  of  what  men  have  thought  and  felt  and  striven 
for.  It  would  make  the  vast  field  of  human  experience  one 
dead  level  of  uniformity  instead  of  the  varied  and  instruc- 
tive panorama  of  mountain  and  hill  and  valley,  of  sea  and 
lake  and  river  that  is  spread  before  us  whenever  we  become 
absorbed  in  some  great  literary  masterpiece.  The  serious 
question  is  not,  Can  our  boys  and  girls,  and  our  adults,  too, 
for  that  matter,  afford  to  read  fiction?  it  is  rather,  What 
fiction  shall  they  read? 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  dictum  that  the  true 
artist  must  neither  preach  nor  teach,  it  has  never  been 
generally  recognized  by  the  English-speaking  people. 
Their  great  writers  have  made  it  a  paramount  object  to  har- 
monize the  conduct  of  men  with  the  moral  order  of  the 
world,  and  to  lead  them  to  a  recognition  of  this  all-per- 
vading law.  That  the  poet  should  be  a  teacher  rather 
than  a  creator  was  a  belief  that  inspired  Milton,  Words- 
worth, Shelley,  Tennyson,  Browning  and  an  innumerable 
host  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  same  creed  is  con- 
stantly cropping  out  in  those  writers  of  fiction  that  best 
hold  their  ground  in  popular  esteem.  On  the  other  hand 
poets  who,  like  Keats  and  Swinburne  put  the  sensuous  fac- 
tor in  the  foreground  are  either  without  a  well-defined  po- 
sition in  English  letters  or  are  not  generally  read.  While, 
then,  it  is  true  that  the  English  school  system  has  always 
left  much  to  be  desired,  it  has  been  the  conviction  of  the 


FICTION  AS  A  FACTOR  IN  EDUCATION.  211 

leaders  of  British  thought  that  the  teaching  agencies  should 
take  a  wider  scope.  The  school  has  been  regarded  as  but 
one  of  the  many  forces  by  which  the  body  politic  is  to 
be  enlightened  and  stimulated.  The  mult  has  justified 
this  half  unconscious  faith.  Where  the  school  has  been 
looked  upon  as  the  sole,  or  at  least  the  principal  agency  for 
moral  instruction  the  result  is  almost  sure  to  be  disappoint- 
ing, as  has  been  demonstrated  by  the  recent  experience  of 
France. 

As  the  Roman  poet  would  not  voluntarily  take  refuge 
under  the  same  tree  during  a  shower  nor  embark  in  the 
same  boat  with  one  who  neglected  the  gods,  we  should 
with  equal  prudence  stand  aloof  from  those  who  are  un- 
willing to  enter  with  us  the  .delightful  region  of  the  imag- 
ination to  seek  there  surcease  from  the  sorrows  and  disap- 
pointments of  practical  experience  and  to  gain  new 
strength  and  new  inspiration  to  sustain  us  in  our  labors 
for  the  Good,  the  Beautiful,  the  Just  and  the  True.  Wisely 
does  Thackeray  say,  "Novels  are  sweets.  All  people  with 
healthy  literary  appetites  love  them." 

I  can  here  quote  with  entire  approval  some  words  from 
Euskin's  Introduction  to  an  edition  of  Grimm's  German 
Popular  Stories.  "Every  fairy  tale  worth  recording  at  all 
is  the  remnant  of  a  tradition  possessing  a  true  historical 
value, — historical,  at  least  in  so  far  as  it  has  naturally 
arisen  out  of  the  mini  of  a  people  under  special  circum- 
stances, and  risen  not  without  meaning,  nor  removed  alto- 
gether from  their  sphere  of  religious  faith.  It  sustains 
afterward  natural  changes  from  the  sincere  action  of  the 
fear  or  fancy  of  successive  generations;  it  takes  new  color 
from  their  manner  of  life  and  new  forms  from  their  chang- 
ing moral  temper.  As  long  as  these  changes  are  natural 
and  effortless,  accidental  and  inevitable,  the  story  remains 


212  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

essentially  true,  altering  its  form,  indeed,  like  a  flying 
cloud,  but  remaining  a  sign  of  the  sky;  a  shadowy  image, 
as  truly  a  part  of  the  great  firmament  of  the  human  mind 
as  the  light  of  reason  which  it  seems  to  interrupt.  But 
as  the  fair  deceit  and  innocent  error  of  it  can  not  be  in- 
terpreted nor  restrained  by  a  willful  purpose  and  all  addi- 
tions to  it  by  art  do  but  defile,  as  the  shepherd  disturbs 
the  flakes  of  morning  mist  with  smoke  from  his  fire  of 
dead  leaves."  The  editor  himself  says :  "Among  the  most 
pleasing  of  the  German  tales  are  those  in  which  animals 
support  the  leading  characters.  They  are  perhaps  more 
venerable  in  their  origin  than  the  heroic  and  fairy  tales. 
They  are  not  only  amusing  by  their  playful  and  dramatic 
character,  but  instructive  by  the  purity  of  their  morality. 
Justice  always  prevails,  active  talent  is  everywhere  success- 
ful, the  amiable  and  generous  qualities  are  brought  forward 
to  excite  the  sympathy  of  the  reader,  and  in  the  end  are 
constantly  rewarded  by  triumph  oyer  lawless  power." 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT. 

The  belief  in  heredity,  in  the  transmission  of  certain 
mental  qualities  from  father  to  son,  is  as  old  as  the  re- 
corded history  of  the  human  race.  Without  entering  into 
a  discussion  of  the  origin  of  tribal  society,  we  find  already 
among  the  Israelites  a  strongly  marked  feeling  of  exclusive- 
ness  growing  out  of  their  belief  in  a  descent  from  a  com- 
mon ancestor,  in  virtue  of  which  they  belonged  to  a  higher 
order  of  men  than  the  Semitic  tribes  by  whom  they  were 
surrounded.  Though  Christianity  in  its  inception  was 
intended  by  its  founders  to  break  down  the  middle  wall 
of  partition  between  Jew  and  Gentile,  the  early  Christians 
attached  great  importance  to  the  evidence  that  its  author 
was  a  legitimate  descendant  through  both  parents  from  the 
father  of  God's  chosen  people.  After  the  adoption  of  sacer- 
dotal celibacy  the  transmission  of  merit  from  father  to 
legitimate  son  became  impossible.  On  the  other  hand 
it  may  be  argued  that  the  doctrine  of  apostolic  succession 
was  but  the  reappearance  of  the  same  belief  in  another  form. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  ancient  Greeks  laid  so  much 
stress  upon  a  legitimate  parentage  that  their  idea  of  the 
state  both  in  theory  and  practice  was  entirely  founded  upon 
it.  Only  under  exceptional  circumstances  were  persons  of 
alien  birth  admitted  to  civil  rights.  The  Spartans  traced 

(213) 


214  WISDOM  AXD  WILL  7.V  EDUCATION. 

the  genealogy  of  their  kings  to  Herakles;  and  Leonidas 
felt  the  force  of  the  heroic  blood  in  his  veins  when  he  re- 
sisted the  onset  of  the  Persians  at  Thermopylae,  though 
his  divine  ancestor  was  removed  from  him  by  twenty  gen- 
erations. Aristotle  argues  at  length  to  prove  that  some 
men  deserve  to  be  free  and  others  to  be  slaves  by  their  very 
nature;  that  particular  peoples  are  born  to  be  subjects  to 
others;  and  that  it  is  nearly  or  quite  impossible  to  change 
this  natural  relation  by  artificial  means.  And  it  is  not  yet 
proved  that  his  doctrines  were  fundamentally  erroneous. 
He  maintains  further  that  the  best,  the  most  worthy,  ought 
always  to  bear  rule  in  the  commonwealth.  The  most 
worthy  were,  however,  not  so  because  of  their  character, 
as  we  understand  this  term ;  their  pre-eminence  rested  al- 
most entirely  on  the  accident  of  birth  into  the  ruling  class. 
We  find  the  same  notion  an  article  of  the  popular  creed 
in  ancient  Rome.  It  was  professed  by  the  patricians  and 
generally  admitted  by  the  plebeians.  The  members  of 
the  Julian  family  were  invested  with  an  odor  of  quasi- 
sanctity  because  of  their  descent  from  Aeneas,  the  reputed 
progenitor  of  the  Roman  people.  More  was  expected  of  a 
Scipio  or  a  Fabius  than  of  a  novus  homo,  because  it  was 
assumed  as  a  matter  beyond  question  that  with  the  name 
he  had  also  a  large  measure  of  the  virtues  that  were  tra- 
ditionally associated  with  it.  On  the  other  hand  some 
families,  like  the  Claudian,  were  notorious  for  the  traits 
that  made  them  either  feared  or  despised  by  a  large  portion 
of  their  countrymen.  With  what  scrupulous  care  do  the 
reigning  families  of  Europe  guard  against  contamination 
by  intermarriage  with  persons  of  common  blood !  Just  as 
the  history  of  ancient  Rome  is  little  more  than  an  amplified 
biography  of  a  score  or  two  of  its  leading  families,  so  the 
history  of  modern  Europe  may  be  pretty  fully  traced  in  the 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  215 

record  of  its  leading  dynasties.  So  completely  has  the 
great  mass  of  mankind  been  held  spellbound  by  what  many 
men  regard  as  a  mere  delusion  that  we  have  no  political 
history,  until  comparatively  recent  times,  that  is  not  com- 
pletely dominated  by  it. 

No  man  that  has  ever  lived  was  less  influenced  by  purely 
sentimental  considerations  than  the  first  Napoleon.  He 
looked  forward  only,  not  back.  He  aimed  at  tangible  re- 
sults of  a  strictly  practical  kind,  viewed  from  his  personal 
standpoint.  Yet  the  time  came,  and  it  was  when  he  was 
at  the  acme  of  power,  when  he  found  it  advisable  to 
strengthen  his  position  among  the  monarchs  of  Europe  by 
intermarriage  with  one  of  its  oldest  dynasties.  One  might 
suppose  that  a  man  who  had  achieved  what  he  had,  by 
the  force  of  genius  alone,  would  take  a  keen  pleasure  in 
casting  ridicule  on  the  pretended  claims  of  superiority 
made  by  the  contemporary  sovereigns  from  whom  he  had 
compelled  obeisance,  by  showing  the  world  that  he  had  no 
need  of  the  adventitious  support  of  a  hereditary  royalty. 
But  he  had  a  mightier  force  than  genius  to  reckon  with, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  bow  to  it.  The  time  came  when 
he  saw  himself  forced  to  secure  for  himself  and  especially 
for  his  successors  the  prestige  that  noble  birth  alone  could 
give.  He  seems  to  have  believed  that  a  sentiment  would 
hold  for  all  time  to  come  what  force  had  gained  in  less 
than  a  generation.  But  in  the  end  he  was  sadly  mistaken. 

It  is  hard  in  our  day  to  conceive  of  anything  more  ridicu- 
lous than  the  tenacity  with  which  many  an  insignificant 
nobleman,  whose  only  tangible  possessions  are  his  debts,  to 
use  an  oxymoron,  clings  to  his  pedigree,  unless  it  be  the 
recognition  of  his  silly  pretensions  by  persons  who  display 
good  judgment  in  most  other  matters. 

It  is  a  tendency  of  the  human  mind  to  expect  something 


r 


216  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

more  than  ordinary  from  the  descendants  of  an  extraor- 
dinary man.  There  are  few  persons  who  will  not  go  at 
least  a  little  out  of  the  way  to  get  a  glimpse  of  a  man  who 
bears  a  name  he  has  inherited  from  a  distinguished  an- 
cestor. Though  the  teachings  of  Christianity  have  from 
the  beginning  been  diametrically  against  anything  that 
savors  of  caste,  the  Defender  of  the  Faith  or  his  most 
Christian  majesty  would  have  scouted  the  suggestion  to  put 
himself  on  an  equality  with  any  of  his  subjects,  even 
though  they  might  have  had  an  undisputed  claim  to  an  un- 
questionable apostolic  succession.  So  widely  do  men's 
professions  often  diverge  from  their  practice. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  doctrine  of  the  essential 
equality  of  all  men  on  a  practical  basis  did  not  find  its 
most  vigorous  and  most  eloquent  defenders  among  the 
clergy,  but  among  a  class  of  thinkers  who  acknowledged 
scant  allegiance  to  the  Christian  church.  This  doctrine 
took  its  rise  in  France  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
and  found  its  first  application  in  the  sphere  of  the  state  in 
the  American  Declaration  of  Independence;  yet  with  the 
usual  inconsistency  the  signers  of  that  document  gave  the 
lie  to  their  professions  by  holding  in  slavery  some  of  their 
fellow  beings  on  the  ground  that  they  were  the  inferiors 
of  their  masters.  Plainly  enough  "all  men"  to  them  did 
not  mean  every  man.  We  are  here  reminded  of  the  lamen- 
tations of  the  Roman  aristocracy  over  the  loss  of  their  lib- 
erties, a  loss  which  in  the  mouths  of  most  of  them  meant 
no  more  than  the  curtailment  of  the  privilege  of  plunder- 
ing those  who  had  no  redress.  The  ancients,  who  never 
questioned  the  justice  of  slavery  as  a  status,  did  not  deny 
that  it  admitted  of  exceptions.  They  freely  recognized 
that  an  inherited  social  condition  does  not  predicate  a  ser- 
vile intellect.  Accordingly  the  manumission  of  slaves  be- 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  217 

cause  of  talent  or  of  services  rendered  was  of  frequent 
occurrence.  The  notions  of  political  equality  prevalent  in 
all  civilized  countries  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years 
ago  had  not  yet  advanced  beyond  those  maintained  by 
Aristotle.  "Man"  was  not  necessarily  conterminous  with 
<fhuman  beings/'  nor  did  mere  manhood  postulate  a  claim 
to  the  rights  of  citizenship. 

History  thus  clearly  testifies  to  the  almost  universal  be- 
lief in  heredity;  and  the  belief  is  still  widely  held  in  one 
form  or  another.  For  thousands  of  years  it  has  been  regarded 
as  an  almost  axiomatic  truth  that  one  man  is  by  nature 
better,  of  higher  worth,  than  another,  and  that  this  superi- 
ority is  inherited  not  only  by  individuals  but  by  classes  or 
castes,  by  those  forming  the  social  environment  wherein  the 
individual  moved  and  had  his  being.  Modern  historians 
admit  the  truth  of  this  belief,  so  often  and  so  persistently 
maintained  by  the  ancients,  by  attributing  the  decay  of 
most  pre-Christian  states  to  the  introduction  of  alien  ele- 
ments in  the  population,  that  had  not  inherited  the  con- 
servative traditions  of  government  which  were  the  birth- 
right of  the  ruling  families.  Yet  nothing  is  plainer  to  the 
student  of  political  history  than  that  some  of  the  worst 
governments  the  world  has  ever  seen  were  those  of  fami- 
lies that  had  for  several  generations  held  the  reins  of  power. 
On  the  whole  it  may  be  accepted  as  an  established  truth 
that  every  aristocracy  inherits  an  increasing  number  of  so- 
cial and  political  traditions  of  a  conservative  type,  the  mass 
of  which  in  the  end  becomes  so  great  as  to  bar  effectually 
every  initiative  toward  progress.  This  not  being  the  case 
in  a  democracy,  talent  more  readily  makes  its  way  to  the 
front  and  to  a  leading  position  in  the  direction  of  affairs. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case  this  form  of  government  is 
everywhere  more  or  less  gradually  superseding  every  other. 


218  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

Though  the  belief  in  heredity  had  been  almost  undis- 
puted from  time  immemorial,  we  have  seen  when  and  how 
it  began  to  be  called  in  question  in  the  sphere  of  the 'state. 
In  quite  recent  times  attempts  have  been  made  to  ascertain 
to  about  what  extent  this  belief  rests  upon  a  scientific 
basis  so  far  as  it  concerns  individuals.  Galton's  "Hered- 
itary Genius"  is  generally  regarded  as  the  first  systematic 
attempt  to  show  that  this  widely  accepted  dogma  rests  on 
a  basis  of  fact.  But,  with  all  due  deference  to  its  dis- 
tinguished author,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  he  is 
strictly  scientific,  for  he  says,  "I  propose  to  show  in  this 
work  that  a  man's  natural  abilities  are  derived  by  inherit- 
ance, under  exactly  the  same  limitations  as  are  the  forms 
and  physical  features  of  the  whole  organized  world."  As 
to  the  method,  it  may  be  said  that  science,  strictly  so  called, 
does  not  seek  to  establish  preconceived  theories;  it  seeks 
only  the  truth.  Moreover,  if  this  dictum  be  true  we  may 
well  ask,  Where  do  the  progressive  forces  of  society  come 
in  ?  If  we  merely  transmit  to  posterity  what  we  have  our- 
selves inherited,  civilization  must  always  remain  at  the 
same  level.  This  is  an  application  of  the  law  of  the  conser- 
vation of  energy  where  it  manifestly  does  not  belong.  Fou- 
illee  seems  to  be  nearer  the  truth  in  holding  that  heredity 
is  merely  a  conservator,  and  that  evolution  must  supply  the 
motive  power  that  is  to  carry  each  generation  beyond  its 
predecessor.  Galton  limits  his  remarks  to  a  single  cate- 
gory of  prominent  men,  to-wit,  the  English  judges  between 
the  years  1660  and  1885.  In  a  subsequent  part  of  the 
same  volume  he  makes  analogous  investigations  in  the  par- 
entage of  noted  men  in  all  departments,  and  arrivs  at  sim- 
ilar results.  On  the  first  point  it  is  a  question  whether  the  fa- 
voritism so  often  shown  in  English  politics,  as  in  that  of  all 
other  nations,  particularly  in  the  earlier  period  under  con- 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  219 

sideration,  is  not  calculated  to  throw  a  good  deal  of  doubt 
on  the  ability  of  many  of  those  who  obtained  preferment 
by  royal  favor.  Further,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  epi- 
thets, illustrious,  eminent  and  remarkable,  are  very  vague ; 
yet  for  more  than  half  the  men  on  his  list  the  author  has 
been  unable  to  find  any  ancestors  to  whom  any  of  these 
designations  would  apply.  Besides,  it  is  very  natural,  and 
has  of  late  become  much  the  fashion,  to  attach  undue  im- 
portance to  what  we  may  call  the  reflex  influence  of  a 
great  man.  We  are  loth  to  believe  that  a  high  order  of  in- 
tellectual ability  can  appear  unheralded. 

This  removal  of  the  cause  a  generation  or  two  upward 
does  not  really  help  in  the  least  to  an  explanation,  but  it 
seems  to  have  satisfied  many  a  seeker  for  a  cause.  The  re- 
cent "Life  of  Goethe"  by  Heinemann  is  a  striking  case  in 
point.  He  undertakes  to  show  how  such  a  man  as  his 
hero  came  into  the  world  just  when  he  did;  how  he  com- 
bines in  character  and  disposition  traits  inherited  from 
his  father  and  his  mother;  how  much  these  in  their  turn 
had  inherited  from  their  parents;  how  Goethe  was  a  sort 
of  condensed  encyclopaedia  of  his  blood  relations  that  pre- 
ceded him  for  several  generations.  He  attempts  further 
to  set  forth  to  what  extent  North  and  South  Germany  were 
united  in  this  remarkable  man ;  why  such  a  personality  had 
to  be  born  and  brought  up  in  a  city  having  a  particular 
political  constitution  and  in  what  class  of  its  citizens  he 
must  necessarily  be  born.  This  "Life"  is  a  striking  ex- 
ample of  the  psychological  method  applied  to  biography. 
That  it  breaks  down  utterly  when  employed  in  the  case 
of  scores  of  men  is  evident  on  a  moment^  reflection.  The 
thoughtful  reader  can  hardly  help  asking  himself  why 
there  has  been  but  one  Goethe  when  the  conditions  amid 
which  he  was  born  and  brought  up  were  by  no  means 


220  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

unique.  It  is  no  disparagement  of  scientific  methods  to 
say  that  there  are  domains  to  which  they  can  be  applied  in 
but  a  limited  degree. 

Another  striking  case  is  that  of  the  first  Napoleon.' 
Here  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  find  any  antecedent  cause 
for  his  exceptional  genius.  All  his  blood  relations,  both 
ascending  and  descending  were  thoroughly  commonplace 
people.  A  recent  review  of  his  life  by  Professor  Sloane 
says:  "Capricious,  unscrupulous,  destitute  of  feeling  he 
was;  but  what  could  one  expect  of  one  almost  destitute  of 
religious  training,  thrown  upon  his  resources  at  an  early 
age  by  the  death  of  a  thriftless  father,  buffeted  by  fate, 
knowing  almost  every  vicissitude  of  adverse  fortune,  and 
cast  into  the  seething  chaos  of  ideas  and  events  of  the  Revo- 
lution? His  genius  was  titanic,  but  there  was  nothing 
mysterious  about  his  character.  It  was  the  natural  pro- 
duct of  his  training." 

In  Galtoirs  later  work,  "English  Men  of  Science,"  he 
continued  his  researches  by  addressing  to  180  contemporary 
members  of  the  Royal  Society  a  large  number  of  questions 
bearing  on  their  nurture  and  training.  This  method  gave 
inadequate  results,  for  the  reason  that  many  of  those  to 
whom  the  inquiries  were  sent  returned  no  answer  at  all; 
others  answered  them  only  in  part  or  without  sufficient 
clearness.  Besides,  the  author  himself  admits  that  the  list 
should  have  been  extended  to  three  hundred  to  have  made 
it  fairly  complete. 

It  is  evident  from  the  answers  reported,  as  well  as  from 
much  that  has  been  written  on  this  subject,  that  the  term 
"heredity"  is  used  in  different  senses.  It  surely  does  not 
follow  that  because  a  man  has  a  liking  for  mechanics  he 
inherits  his  taste  and  skill  from  a  father  or  grandfather 
who  was  equally  clever.  A  man  may  completely  underes- 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  221 

timate  the  influence  of  the  milieu  in  which  he  was  brought 
up.  Physicians'  sons  are  often  physicians,  yet  heredity 
has  probably  in  most  cases  nothing  to  do  with  the  choice. 
We  may  inherit  our  occupation  just  as  we  inherit  our  re- 
ligion, but  the  law  of  heredity  has,  strictly  speaking,  little 
to  do  with  either.  Gray's  "mute,  inglorious  Milton"  is 
not  a  figment  of  the  poet's  imagination.  Many  a  man  has 
come  into  the  world  whose  "lot  forbade"  bis  attaining  the 
renown  he  might  and  would  have  attained  in  a  different 
environment.  There  is  ample  evidence  to  prove  that  the 
English  who  emigrated  to  America  were  not  inferior  in 
mental  capacity  to  those  who  remained  behind.  But  the 
conditions  that  surrounded  them  in  their  new  home  com- 
pelled them  to  turn  their  attention  toward  material  and 
away  from  intellectual -pursuits.  It  is  highly  probable  that 
the  Audubons,  the  Bartrams,  the  Bafmesques,  to  name  only 
a  few,  would  have  attained  greater  distinction  had  they 
been  born  under  more  favorable  circumstances.  Other 
men  of  talent  still  more  unfavorably  placed  were  never 
heard  of,  while  the  Wests  and  Copleys  found  a  more  con- 
genial sphere  abroad.  It  required  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years  before  the  hardships  incident  to  the  opening  up 
of  a  new  country  were  sufficiently  overcome  to  permit  any 
portion  of  the  people  to  give  some  attention  to  purely  in- 
tellectual pursuits.  During  all  this  time  the  indispensable 
mental  pabulum  was  drawn  from  the  mother  country, 
where  the  supply  was  abundant  and  easily  brought  into 
use  by  identity  of  language.  That  Americans  were  not 
inferior  in  talent  to  Englishmen  is  plainly  evident  from 
the  fact  that  in  those  departments  of  political  activity  to 
which  they  turned  their  attention  the  new  product  was  fully 
equal  to  the  old.  The  United  States  produced  an  array  of 
talent  in  oratory,  in  statecraft,  and  in  war  that  ranked 
high,  the  British  people  themselves  being  judges. 


222  WISDOM  AXD  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

The  importance  of  environment  is  also  attested  by  the 
direction  which  the  intellectual  development  of  the  South 
took  as  compared  with  the  North.  In  the  creation  of  what 
properly  constitutes  an  American  literature  the  former 
had  virtually  no  part,  but  her  statesmen  were  for  a  long 
time  more  than  a  match  for  those  of  the  latter  section.  It 
may  be  questioned  whether  the  traditions  inherited  from 
the  mother  country  were  as  favorable  for  the  creation  of  a 
literature  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  Union  as  in  the 
southern;  the  environment,  however,  turned  the  intellec- 
tual energies  of  the  people  wholly  in  another  direction  and 
completely  absorbed  their  talents.  With  the  suppression 
of  the  Kebellion,  material  interests  again  came  to  the  fore. 
Few  people  were  content  to  use,  in  the  enjoyment  of  intel- 
lectual pursuits,  the  means  they  had  already  acquired.  A 
veritable  craze  began  to  show  itself  among  rich  men  to  be- 
come richer,  and  among  the  well-to-do  to  become  rich. 
While  education  has  been  vastly  the  gainer  by  this  state 
of  things,  we  may  well  ask,  Where  are  the  successors  of 
Irving  and  Cooper  and  Bryant  and  Lowell  and  Whittier 
and  Holmes?  Yet  our  literary  poverty  is  hardly  greater 
than  that  of  England  or  indeed  of  most  of  the  European 
countries.  Material  interests  predominate  everywhere. 
Authors  are  more  concerned  to  write  what  will  sell  well 
than  what  the  world  will  "not  willingly  let  die." 

De  Candolle,  in  his  "Histoire  des  Sciences  et  des.  Sa- 
vants depuis  deux  Siecles,"  recognizes  the  fact  that  re- 
searches in  heredity  have  not  been  conducted  according  to 
rigidly  scientific  methods,  and  that  its  influence  has  not 
been  clearly  established.  He  holds  that  it  would  be  bet- 
ter to  select  without  any  preconceived  notions,  and  without 
regard  to  merit  or  capacity,  as  large  a  number  of  persons 
as  possible  whose  distinctive  characteristics  were  known, 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  223 

as  well  as  those  of  their  parents  and,  if  possible,  of  their 
grandparents,  in  order  to  ascertain  how  far  these  character- 
istics have  been  transmitted  or  not  transmitted  from  one 
generation  to  another.  Here  again  the  difficulty  of  obtain- 
ing strictly  accurate  data  is  very  great,  and  one  is  especially 
liable  to  underestimate  the  influence  of  environment.  The 
author's  conclusions,  briefly  summarizeed,  are  that  the  in- 
heritance of  mental  and  physical  chracteristics  is  a  law 
that  suffers  few  exceptions ;  that  the  interruption  of  hered- 
ity during  one  or  several  generations  is  rare,  perhaps  five 
or  ten  times  in  a  hundred;  that  inheritance  through  the 
female  line  is  less  distinctive  than  through  the  male,  espe- 
cially in  the  domain  of  the  intellect ;  that  it  is  difficult  to  as- 
certain whether  characteristics  acquired  by  education  and 
social  influences  are  transmitted ;  and  that  the  most  marked 
characterostics  of  an  individual  are  those  that  he  receives 
from  his  two  parents  and  other  relatives. 

He  next  studies  the  Associate,  Foreign  and  Correspond- 
ing members  of  the  Koyal  Society  of  London,  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  of  Berlin,  and  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Paris.  His  list  again  testifies  to  the  fallibility  of  human 
judgment,  the  strength  of  human  prejudice,  and  the  lim- 
itations of  human  knowledge.  But  twenty-two  per  cent,  of 
the  names  are  found  in  two  of  the  lists,  and  but  five  in 
three.  Both  Franklin  and  Lavoisier  occur  in  but  one. 
Evidently  the  personal  equation,  or  the  political  milieu, 
had  had  not  a  little  to  do  with  election  to  membership  in 
these  societies.  De  Candolle  attached  less  importance  to 
heredity  than  Galton.  While  admitting  that  the  number 
of  persons  connected  with  families  producing  men  of  merit 
is  much  greater  than  one  would  obtain  from  the  mere  cal- 
culus of  probabilities,  he  does  not  think  this  to  be  neces- 


224  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

sarily  due  to  inheritance  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term.  • 
He  says:  "From  these  facts  and  from  biographical  data 
known  to  me  *  *  *  I  have  not  concluded  that  every- 
thing is  due  to  heredity.  It  appears  to  have  had  little  in- 
fluence except  in  the  case  of  mathematical  science.  It 
would  rather  appear  that  the  preponderating  influence  was 
produced  by  education,  example,  advice,"  etc.  In  other 
words,  "celebrity  is  less  hereditary  than  a  specialty."  An- 
other question  De  Candolle  sought  to  answer  was,  "From 
what  classes  of  society  have  the  associate  members  of  the 
French  Academy  of  Sciences  sprung?  He  finds  that  for- 
ty-one per  cent,  have  had  a  rich  or  noble  parentage;  fifty- 
two  per  cent,  came  from  the  middle  classes ;  while  but  seven 
per  cent,  were  born  in  the  class  of  laborers,  tillers  of  the 
soil,  etc.  For  French  savants  as  a  body  he  finds  the  three 
classes  to  be  represented  by  thirt}r-nve,  forty-two,  and 
thirty-three  per  cent,  respectively.  His  data,  however,  are 
too  meager  to  make  them  of  much  value,  embracing  as 
they  do  only  one  hundred  foreigners  and  sixty  Frenchmen. 
There  is  the  additional  difficulty  of  comparing  the  social 
classes  of  different  countries.  The  figures  are  valuable  for 
the  general  tendency  they  indicate,  but  they  can  not  be 
used  as  a  basis  for  wide  generalization. 

De  Candolle  attaches  a  good  deal  of  importance  to  the 
religious  environment,  perhaps  the  most  artificial  of  all. 
He  observes  that  of  the  foreign  associate  members  of  the 
French  Academy,  but  one  in  a  population  of  six  millions 
has  been  brought  up  in  the  Eoman  Catholic  faith,  while  in 
Protestant  countries  it  required  less  than  a  million  inhabit- 
ants to  produce  a  member.  An  examination  of  the  foreign 
members  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London  discloses  facts 
of  the  same  nature.  Nearly  all  belong  to  the  Protestant 
portions  of  countries  having  a  mixed  population,  or  to  dis- 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  225 

tinctively  Protestant  countries.  Thus,  Switzerland,  which 
is  only  about  three-fourths  Protestant,  fi>raished  fourteen 
members,  without  a  Catholic  among  them.  The  Catholic 
population  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  has  no  repre- 
sentative; nor  has  Austria;  while  the  Catholic  portions  of 
Germany  are  represented  by  very  few. 

In  1881  Dr.  Paul  Jacoby  published  a  work  in  which  he 
treated  of  the  genesis  of  great  men  chiefly  from  the  path- 
ological point  of  view.  His  object,  like  that  of  Dr.  Max 
Nordau  more  recently,  was  to  establish  the  degeneracy  of 
every  aristocracy,  including  that  of  men  of  talent.  His 
conclusions  are  in  the  main  in  accord  with  a  statement 
sometimes  met  with,  that  the  greatest  men  never  have 
equally  great  sons.  As  a  basis  for  his  calculations  he  takes 
the  "Biographic  Universelle,"  and  selects  therefrom  the 
names  of  all  the  prominent  men  born  between  January  1, 
1700,  and  December  31,  1799,  and  dead  before  1845.  His 
List  embraces  3,311  names.  It  is  not  e?sy  to  see  how  a 
better  list  for  the  author's  purposes  could  be  made.  But 
it  must  be  evident  on  a  moment's  reflection  that  its  defects 
are  grave.  What  weight  can  be  attached  to  the  mere  ap- 
pearance of  a  man's  name  in  a  biographical  dictionary? 
It  always  means  that  its  bearer  was  for  a  time  in  the  public 
eye,  but  frequently  nothing  more.  One  can  easily  con- 
vince himself  of  this  truth  by  a  glance  into  any  similar 
work. 

Another  work  that  contains  much  interesting  informa- 
tion in  a  brief  compass,  bearing  upon  heredity  in  its  rela- 
tion to  pauperism  and  crime,  is  E.  L.  Dugdale's  "The 
Jukes."  It  is  here  shown  that  inheritance  and  environ- 
ment have  an  important  reciprocal  influence  upon  each 
other,  and  that  the  latter  in  many  instances  entirely  neu- 
tralizes the  former,  while  the  converse  does  not  often  take 

15 


226  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

place.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the  author's  tentative 
inductions.  Pauperism  is  an  indication  of  weakness,  and 
is  divisible  into  hereditary  and  induced.  Hereditary  pau- 
perism rests  chiefly  on  disease,  and  tends  to  extinction. 
Pauperism  in  adult  age  indicates  a  hereditary  tendency 
which  may  or  may  not  be  modified  by  the  environment. 
Hereditary  pauperism  is  more  frequent  in  men  than  in 
women.  Harlotry  may  become  a  hereditary  characteristic, 
but  is  in  most  cases  accompanied  by  an  environment  that 
runs  parallel  with  it.  Where  chastity  is  inherited  it  is 
accompanied  by  an  environment  favorable  to  it.  Where 
the  heredity  and  the  environment  are  in  the  direction  of 
harlotry,  if  the  environment  be  changed  at  a  sufficiently 
early  date,  sexual  habits  may  be  amended. 

Further  testimony  to  the  important  bearing  environment 
has  in  neutralizing  the  influence  of  heredity  is  furnished 
by  the  experience  of  our  government  in  its  effects  to  civilize 
the  Indian.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  up  to  a  certain 
point  these  efforts  have  been  remarkably  successful.  The 
experiment  has  not,  however,  been  in  progress  a  sufficient 
length  of  time  or  on  a  sufficiently  large  scale  to  make  a 
prediction  as  to  its  final  outcome  entirely  safe.  But  pres- 
ent indications  seern  to  warrant  the  conclusion  that  at  no 
very  distant  day  the  Eed  Man  may  attain  to  a  civilization 
not  much,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  that  of  the  whites. 

Among  recent  writings  on  heredity  those  of  Professor 
Cesare  Lombroso,  of  Turin,  have  perhaps  attracted  the 
most  attention.  This  has  been  owing  more  to  the  agree- 
.  able  style  of  the  author  and  the  oracular  tone  in  which  he 
writes  than  to  the  intrinsic  merit  of  what  he  says,  though 
it  will  not  be  denied  that  he  has  published  a  good  deal 
that  is  valuable.  In  his  "Men  of  Genius"  he  undertakes 
to  prove  that  genius  is  a  form  of  neurosis,  and  is  closely  re- 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  227 

lated  to  mania,  if  it  is  not  mania  itself.  While  this  theory 
is  not  new,  it  has  never  been  treated  so  systematically  and 
supported  by  so  considerable  an  array  of  data.  But  here 
we  are  met  at  the  outset  with  a  serious  difficulty.  If  one 
is  permitted  to  choose  his  own  subjects  it  is  easy  to  make 
out  a  case.  But  who  will  tell  us  exactly  what  genius  is  ? 
And  who  among  the  large  number  of  great  men  that  have 
passed  across  the  world's  stage  are  to  be  ranked  as  geniuses, 
and  who  are  merely  men  of  talent?  No  doubt  the  genius 
differs  from  the  normal  man  in  several  ways;  yet  no  one 
would  contend  that  mere  abnormality  constitutes  genius. 
Many  great  men  have  exhibited  signs  of  insanity ;  but  sup- 
pose that  we  could  get  together  one  hundred  or  one  thou- 
sand of  the  world's  most  prominent  characters  and  an 
equal  number  of  ordinary  men  in  any  community.  Does 
anybody  believe  that  one  set  would  exhibit  ft  larger  number 
of  peculiar  traits  than  the  other?  The  evidence  is  all 
against  an  affirmative  answer.  It  may  be  regarded  as  an 
established  fact  that  there  is  no  connection  between  intel- 
lect and  character.  Men  of  the  most  gigantic  intellect 
have  often  shown  the  most  painful  weakness  in  the  latter 
respect.  But  this  is  something  quite  different  from  mania. 
It  needs  but  a  moment's  reflection  to  convince  anyone  that 
many  persons  who  have  an  undisputed  claim  to  the  posses- 
sion of  genius  have  shown  a  "level-headedness"  that  would 
do  honor  to  the  veriest  plodder.  No  one  denies  that  genius 
is  sui  generis.  Thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  thou 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.  Yet 
it  is  wholly  out  of  place  to  call  it  abnormal,  even  in  a  ma- 
jority of  cases.  A  tree  is  not  abnormal  because  it  is  higher 
than  other  trees  far  and  near.  Genius  frequently  embodies 
the  normal  in  a  high  degree.  The  consciousness  of  power 
makes  its  possessor  in  most  cases  disregard  or  defy  public 


WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 


opinion  and  aim  at  results  by  the  shortest  method.  With 
it  there  is  often  connected  an  unusual  sensitiveness  and  in- 
tensity of  feeling.  Yet  we  find  those  qualities  in  thou- 
sands of  the  most  ordinary  persons;  but  because  they  are 
unaccompanied  by  a  high  order  of  intellect  they  are  not 
generally  noticed.  There  may  be  and  often  is  a  lack  of 
balance  or  proportion  between  the  psychical  powers  of 
the  least  as  well  as  the  greatest  minds.  This  may  result 
in  mania,  though  it  is  not  more  likely  to  do  so  in  one  class 
of  cases  than  in  the  other.  The  reputed  thin  wall  of  parti- 
tion between  genius  and  insanity  is  found  to  be  less  thin 
than  has  generally  been  supposed.  Every  unduly  sensitive 
mental  organization  is  ill-fitted  to  contend  against  the  ob- 
stacles that  most  men  have  to  encounter  in  this  world ;  but 
our  insane  asylums  furnish  abundant  testimony  to  the 
fact  that  those  who  go  down  under  the  strain  of  life  do 
not  belong  in  a  large  measure  to  the  highest  order  of  intel- 
lects. It  is  a  serious  error  to  suppose,  as  has  generally 
been  done,  that  a  fair  measure  of  common  sense  is  incom- 
patible with  a  large  measure  of  ability. 

An  assertion  often  met  with  is  that  men  of  genius  are 
not  as  long-lived  as  the  common  order  of  men.  An  exam- 
ination of  the  biography  of  854  Frenchmen  of  this  class 
discloses  the  fact  that  only  about  four  per  cent,  of  them 
died  before  the  age  of  forty,  among  which  number  a  few 
perished  on  the  scaffold.  This  rather  effectually  disposes 
of  the  contention  of  Lombroso  that  men  of  genius  usually 
die  before  the  age  of  forty.  With  regard  to  France  there 
is  some  variation  in  age  between  the  different  epochs. 
From  1300  to  1800  the  lowest  mean  lies  between  1510  and 
1600,  when  it  was  rather  less  than  sixty  years,  and  highest 
between  1650  and  1700,  when  it  was  nearly  seventy-six. 
Comparing  this  average  with  that  of  the  entire  population 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  229 

we  find  it  largely  in  favor  of  the  most  prominent  men  of 
letters,  as  the  average  of  human  life  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury— there  are  no  earlier  data — was  about  twenty-three 
years,  while  as  late  as  1776  it  was  but  twenty-nine.  In 
1835  it  had  risen  to  thirty-five  years,  while  at  present  it  is 
above  forty.  Or  if  we  take  the  expectation  of  life  as  given 
in  most  insurance  tables,  we  find  that  for  a  person  aged 
twenty-five  it  is  about  twenty-nine  years.  If  we  add  the 
two  together  we  get  fifty-four.  It  is  plain  from  these  fig- 
ures that  the  possession  of  great  literary  talents  in  posse, 
that  is,  by  persons  in  childhood,  or  in  esse,  that  is  by  the 
man  of  twenty-five  years,  is  no  premonition  of  an  early 
death. 

By  far  the  most  ambitious  attempt  that  has  yet  been 
made  to  investigate  the  causes  that  have  produced  remark- 
able men  is  a  work  by  Alfred  Odin,  recently  a  professor  in 
the  University  of  Sofia,  entitled  "La  Genese  des  Grands 
Homines."  In  the  two  octave  volumes  that  embody  his 
researches  he  not  only  endeavors  to  trace  the  influence  of 
heredity,  but  he  examines  the  whole  environment  amid 
which  men  grow  up  and  the  influences  that  bear  upon  their 
development,  such  as  race,  locality,  religion,  government, 
financial  circumstances,  education,  etc.  He  has  no  pre- 
conceived hypothesis  to  prove,  and  his  investigations  are 
conducted  according  to  the  strictest  scientific  method.  He 
confines  his  researches  to  comparatively  modern  times  for 
the  reason  that  dates  previous  to  1400  are  often  uncertain 
and  data  generally  meager.  Neither  does  he  take  into  ac- 
count persons  born  after  1830,  because  sufficient  time  has 
not  elapsed  to  test  the  merit  of  their  works.  The  judgment 
of  contemporaries  is  frequently  not  that  of  posterity.  As 
it  was  important  to  make  the  basis  of  his  studies  a  litera- 
ture that  has  had  as  nearly  as  possible  a  uniform  develop- 


230  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

ment  between  the  dates  named,  Professor  Odin  finds  none 
so  well  suited  to  his  purpose  as  the  French.  After  a  care- 
ful study  of  its  biography  and  bibliography  he  selects  from 
the  complete  list  before  him  1,136  persons,  whom  he  feels 
justified  in  designating  as  gens  de  lettres  de  talent.  The 
elite  of  French  literature,  however,  contains  but  144  names, 
and  those  who  belong  to  it  he  calls  gens  de  lettres  de  genie. 
By  gens  de  lettres  are  to  be  understood  persons  whose 
writings  are  of  general  interest,  though  he  includes  among 
these  a  few  persons  who  have  written  little  themselves,  but 
who  have,  nevertheless,  contributed  greatly  to  the  develop- 
ment of  French  letters.  The  list  excludes  great  military 
captains,  explorers,  actors,  investigators,  princes,  compos- 
ers,— in  short  all  who  have  not  made  permanent  contribu- 
tions to  literature.  By  this  method  of  inclusion  and  ex- 
clusion it  becomes  possible  to  grasp  all  the  influences  that 
bear  on  the  genesis  and  nurture  of  French  letters,  so  far 
as  this  is  possible  from  the  study  of  printed  records.  When 
we  examine  somewhat  carefully  the  civilization  of  the  five 
principal  nations  of  modern  Europe  and  make  comparisons 
between  them,  we  are  soon  struck  with  the  unevenness  of  the 
growth  of  their  literature.  French,  as  before  stated,  is  to 
a  considerable  extent  an  exception.  At  the  close  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  the  social  conditions  in  southern  and  western 
Europe  were  not  widely  different.  It  is,  therefore,  not 
easy  to  see  why  there  should  be  so  marked  an  ebb  and  flood 
in  the  tide  of  literary  productiveness  within  the  next  four 
or  five  hundred  years.  Evidently  the  doctrine  of  heredity, 
broadly  stated,  will  not  solve  the  mystery,  for  a  period  of 
decay  would  not  follow  a  period  of  growth  throughout 
an  entire  nation. 

If  we  divide  the  literary  history  of  Europe,  excepting 
France,  beginning  with  1400,  into  periods  of  fifty  years, 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  231 

we  find  the  primacy  for  the  first  to  be  with  Italy ;  neither 
Spain,  Germany,  nor  England  having  produced  a  name  of 
first-rate  importance,  except  Chaucer,  whom,  strangely 
enough,  Professor  Odin  has  not  in  his  list.  During  the 
next  period  Italy  is  still  at  the  head,  and  furnishes  more 
great  names  than  the  other  three  countries  combined.  In 
the  third  period  Spain  stands  at  the  head.  During  the 
fourth,  Spain  and  England  keep  abreast  of  each  other, 
Italy  having  fallen  behind,  and  Germany  far  behind.  All 
through  the  seventeenth  century  England  is  in  the  lead, 
Italy  in  the  first  half  furnishing  but  one  name  of  prime 
importance,  and  Spain  in  the  second  half  none  at  all. 
Even  in  France,  where  the  production  of  literary  men  has 
been  remarkably  regular,  there  is  some  fluctuation.  In 
the  period  extending  from  1600  to  1650  the  number  of 
great  writers  was  above  the  average,  while  in  that  between 
1725  and  1750  it  was  considerably  below.  From  1700  to 
1750  England  and  Germany  furnish  about  an  equal  num- 
ber of  names,  Spain  being  lowest  in  the  list.  Between 
1750  and  1800  Germany  stands  first,  England  second,  and 
Italy  last.  There  seems  little  doubt  that  of  the  world's 
great  literati  born  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury a  much  larger  number  used  the  English  language  than 
any  other  language. 

A  study  of  the  genealogy  of  the  literary  men  and  women 
of  an  entire  nation  is  beset  with  great  difficulties.  The 
first  is  that,  for  the  earlier  periods  especially,  biographies 
are  seldom  sufficiently  full.  Sometimes  a  remarkable  man 
has  had  among  his  direct  ancestors  one  or  more  persons  of 
merit  of  whom  little  or  nothing  is  known.  Then,  again  the 
reflex  influence  of  a  distinguished  man  upon  his  ancestors 
obscures  the  vision  of  posterity  and  makes  the  real  facts 
hard  to  ascertain. 


232  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

It  is  unquestionable  that  mental  traits,  like  physical 
characteristics,  are  inherited.  We  often  read  the  remark 
that  the  different  members  of  the  Bourbon  family  not  only 
bore  a  more  or  less  striking  resemblance  to  each  other,  but 
neither  learned  anything  nor  forgot  anything.  This,  how- 
ever, is  quite  different  from  predicating  the  inheritance  of 
intellectual  pre-eminence  in  general.  It  needs  to  be  kept 
constantly  in  mind  that  all  men  fall  heir  to  a  good  deal 
besides  those  qualities  that  are  personal  to  their  progeni- 
tors. This  is  what  we  have  designated  by  the  comprehen- 
sive term,  environment,  or  milieu.  A  study  of  French  sta- 
tistics, so  far  as  they  bear  on  this  point,  strikingly  shows 
this  fact.  Of  the  cases  investigated  by  Professor  Odin, 
twenty-four  per  cent,  of  France's  distinguished  men  and 
forty  per  cent,  of  its  celebrated  women  were  descended 
from  the  nobility;  thirty  and  twenty-four  per  cent,  re- 
spectively of  both  sexes  were  born  of  the  office-holding 
class;  twenty-three  and  sixteen  per  cent,  sprang  from 
parents  who  were  engaged  in  the  liberal  professions ;  while 
for  the  burgeoisie  the  figures  are  twelve  and  ten  per  cent., 
and  for  laborers  ten  and  eight  per  cent,  respectively. 

A  striking  fact  made  prominent  by  these  figures  is  the 
subordinate  part  played  by  systematic  education.  Until 
the  present  generation,  the  education  of  young  women  in 
France  would  now  be  considered  very  defective.  At  any 
rate,  the  advantages  afforded  them  in  this  respect  were 
much  inferior  to  those  provided  for  boys.  Nevertheless, 
a  comparatively  large  number  of  women  have  made  a  per- 
manent impression  upon  literature.  This  is  true  not  only 
of  France,  but  of  some  other  European  countries.  Not 
merely  genius,  but  even  a  high  order  of  talent  educates  it- 
self. Just  as  all  animals  find  in  their  habitat  the  things 
needed  for  their  nourishment,  selecting  the  nutritious  and 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  233 

rejecting  the  baneful,  so  a  great  mind  instinctively  finds 
its  mental  pabulum  in  whatever  circumstances  it  may  be 
placed.  The  cases  of  Shakespeare  and  Burns  will  have  at 
once  occurred  to  the  reader ;  but  there  are  many  others.  It 
is  very  doubtful  whether  a  system  of  education  that  affords 
equal  opportunities  for  both  sexes  will  materially  increase 
the  proportion  of  the  lower  classes  as  contributors  to  a 
national  literature.  Such  a  system  undoubtedly  makes 
broader  and  solider  the  foundation  of  national  prosperity, 
but  it  can  do  nothing  for  genuine  talent. 

The  importance  of  environment  is  further  confirmed  by 
the  birthplace  of  noted  French  litterateurs.  Out  of  5,233 
such  men,  1,229  were  born  in  Paris,  2,664  in  other  large 
cities,  1,265  in  other  localities,  and  93  in  country-seats. 
Of  women  the  proportion  falling  to  cities  is  much  larger, 
rising  as  high  as  eighty-four  per  cent,  of  the  entire  num- 
ber ;  while  about  one-half  were  natives  of  the  capital.  The 
testimony  of  these  figures  bearing  upon  the  predominating 
influence  of  what  are  called  the  "centers  of  civilization"  is 
further  corroborated  by  similar  data  taken  from  other 
countries.  Of  fifty-five  eminent  Italian  literati,  twenty- 
three  were  born  in  large  cities,  and  most  of  the  remainder 
in  small  municipalities;  though,  strange  to  say,  not  one 
had  Rome  as  his  birthplace.  Of  the  fifty  Spaniards  who 
are  generally  regarded  as  holding  the  highest  rank  in  the 
literature  of  Spain,  sixteen  were  born  in  Madrid,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  the  remainder  in  cities  of  the  first  rank, 
several  of  which  contain  universities.  The  coryphaei  of 
German  literature  seem  at  first  sight  to  make  an  excep- 
tion to  the  conclusions  that  naturally  spring  from  the  above- 
stated  facts.  The  great  writers  are  quite  evenly  distributed 
over  what  now  constitutes  the  Empire  and  Switzerland. 
Three  large  cities  are  the  birthplace  of  three  great  writers 


234  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

each;  two,  of  two  each;  while  the  rest  have  produced  but 
one  each.  This  calculation  embraces  about  thirty  who 
stand  confessedly  at  the  head ;  yet  if  we  increase  the  num- 
ber the  results  are  not  widely  different.  Here  again  the 
importance  of  the  environment  is  strikingly  made  promi- 
nent. During  the  last  five  centuries  Germany  has  had  a 
large  number  of  capitals,  many  of  which  the  reigning  mon- 
arch tried  with  more  or  less  success  to  nuvke  centers  of  art 
and  literature. 

It  is  also  shown  by  statistics  that  the  occupation  of  the 
parents,  especially  of  the  father,  has  exercised  an  important 
influence  on  the  career  of  the  sons.  The  nobility,  the  of- 
fice-holding class,  and  the  liberal  professions  in  no  coun- 
try of  Europe  form  so  much  as  a  tenth  part  of  the  popula- 
tion. Yet  from  this  small  minority  seventy-eight  per  cent, 
of  the  primates  of  Italian  and  German  literature,  eighty 
per  cent,  of  Spanish,  and  sixty-nine  per  cent,  of  English 
were  descended. 

If  we  examine  the  nativity  of  French  writers  according 
to  their  geographical  distribution,  including  as  before  the 
adjoining  territory  in  which  French  is  the  native  speech, 
we  find  that  northern  and  eastern  parts  have  been  most  pro- 
lific. Taking  France  by  provinces,  Ile-de-France  leads  the 
list,  with  1,572  names  out  of  a  total  of  5,617.  Next  in 
order  comes  Normandy,  with  413  names.  The  adjacent 
districts  of  Picardy  and  Artois  furnish  373.  Provence 
gives  us  a  register  of  295  names ;  Lorraine,  240 ;  Touraine, 
Anjou,  and  Maine,  207.  All  others  fall  below  two  hun- 
dred. Except  in  a  general  way  it  can  not  be  known  what 
relation  these  figures  bear  to  the  total  population,  as  no 
census  of  France  was  taken  until  comparatively  recent 
times.  If  we  make  an  estimate  on  the  present  basis  of  in- 
habitants the  relations  of  the  districts  will  be  somewhat 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  235 

changed.  Ile-de-France  will  stand  at  the  head,  but  the 
second  place  will  be  taken  by  French  Switzerland,  the  third 
by  Provence,  and  the  fourth  by  Orleannais.  Another  in- 
teresting fact  made  plain  by  Professor  Odin's  figures  is 
that,  if  French  territory  as  a  whole  had  shown  the  same 
fecundity  as  Paris,  there  would  have  been  nearly  54,000 
great  writers  instead  of  less  than  6,000 ;  or  if  the  same  re- 
gion had  been  as  fertile  as  the  other  large  cities  there 
would  have  been  22,000.  Or,  again,  if  French  produc- 
tivity had  been  regulated  by  the  smaller  places,  there  would 
have  been  but  1,522 ;  that  is,  a  trifle  more  than  one-fourth 
of  the  actual  number.  That  literature  in  France  is  not 
only  essentially  an  artificial  product  is  thus  made  perfectly 
plain,  but  the  same  general  fact  is  true,  in  perhaps  even 
a  larger  degree,  of  Spain  and  Italy. 

Yet  this  is  not  all.  Not  every  great  city  has  given  birth 
to  an  equal  number  of  writers  of  merit  in  proportion  to 
its  population.  Lyons,  for  example,  is  the  birthplace  of 
a  comparatively  small  number  of  distinguished  authors; 
Geneva,  on  the  other  hand,  of  an  unusually  large  number. 
The  same  statement  appears  to  be  true  of  Liverpool  as  com- 
pared with  several  much  smaller  cities  in  England.  This 
difference  in  productivity  is  in  all  probability  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  interests  of  commerce  and  trade  have  largely 
absorbed  the  energies  of  the  citizens;  an  inference  that  is 
supported  by  a  similar  condition  of  affairs  in  other  parts 
of  the  world.  The  religious  environment  has,  therefore, 
not  always  a  preponderating  influence.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  all  other  conditions  are  virtually  alike,  and  the 
creeds  professed  by  the  people  unlike,  we  are  safe  in  at- 
tributing difference  in  production  largely  to  this  cause. 
It  is  well  known  that  among  French  writers  in  all  depart- 
ments, Geneva  has  produced  a  much  larger  proportion  than 


236  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

would  be  expected  from  the  number  of  its  inhabitants. 
For  more  than  four  centuries  it  has  been  a  Protestant  city, 
while  the  rest  of  French  territory  has  for  the  most  part 
been  Eoman  Catholic.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  too,  that 
in  Germany,  including  by  this  designation  its  territory 
linguistically  and  not  politically,  the  Catholic  portions  of 
Bavaria  and  Austria  have  given  birth  to  a  relatively  small 
number  of  persons  who  are  entitled  to  the  highest  rank  in 
letters.  We  have  already  seen  that  in  the  production  of 
men  of  science  the  religion  of  a  country  seems  to  play  an 
important  part.  We  are  justified  in  drawing  the  same  in- 
ference in  regard  to  literature.  That  French  Catholicism 
has  had  a  weaker  conservative  influence  than  any  other 
in  Europe  will  be  plain  to  those  who  examine  its  character. 

From  the  data  already  cited  and  from  other  data  that 
might  be  given  it  is  evident  that  European  literature  is  in 
but  a  limited  sense  a  national  product.  It  is  almost  en- 
tirely an  artificial  creation,  in  which  the  bulk  of  the  popu- 
lation has  taken  no  part  and  had  no  interest.  It  was  born 
and  brought  to  maturity  in  the  salons  of  the  nobles  and 
in  the  houses  of  the  rich  or  well-to-do.  It  is  essentially 
the  outgrowth  of  civilization,  and  of  a  civilization  that 
bears  the  impress  of  the  ruling  class.  When  now  and  then 
a  person  of  exceptional  psychical  powers  has  been  born  in 
the  lower  stratum  of  society,  it  has  early  become  the  chief 
object  of  his  ambition  to  identify  himself  socially  with 
those  who  stand  at  the  top.  He  did  not  therefore  modify 
materially  the  environment  in  which  his  first  years  were 
passed. 

May  we  not  infer  from  these  studies  that  social  progress 
is  to  a  large  extent  dependent  upon  human  volition? 
While  it  can  rarely  be  said  of  an  individual  that  he  has  his 
destiny  in  his  own  hands,  it  may  be  said  of  the  larger  ag- 


HEREDITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT.  237 

gregates  of  men,  as  they  are  bound  together  in  states,  that 
they  themselves  are  chiefly  responsible  for  their  own  wel- 
fare. For  every  country  in  which  there  is  an  enlightened 
public  opinion  we  may  safely  predict  continual  social 
amelioration.  This  movement  is  in  small  danger  of  seri- 
ous interruption  except  from  extraterritorial  interference. 
Even  the  literature  of  a  country  is  largely  called  into  ex- 
istence by  a  public  opinion  which  its  promoters  do  the  most 
to  create  and  shape. 


NOTE. — In  this  connection  I  take  pleasure  in  calling  attention 
to  a  little  volume  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Winship,  entitled  Jukes-Edward: 
A  Study  in  Education  and  Heredity.  The  publishers  are  Robert 
L.  Myers  &  Co. 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION. 

Readers  of  the  current  literature  dealing  more  or  less 
with  educational  topics  are  familiar  with  the  phrases  "in- 
stitutional education/'  "state  education/'  "national  edu- 
cation," "popular  education/'  and  others  of  like  import. 
It  seems  to  be  generally  assumed  that  these  terms  are  self- 
explanatory  and  that  they  afford  little  scope  for  diversity 
of  opinion.  Is  this  assumption  well  founded?  and  is 
there  not  a  wide  diversity  of  views,  not  only  between  differ- 
ent countries  but  among  equally  competent  persons  in  the 
same  community?  Education  in  some  form  represents  a 
universal  human  interest;  everybody  who  thinks  at  all  has 
given  it  some  attention.  It  is  one  of  the  most  vitally  im- 
portant, if  not  the  most  important,  interest  with  which  all 
civilized  peoples  are  concerned.  This  being  admittedly 
the  case,  it  ought  not  to  be  specially  difficult  for  those  who 
have  studied  the  subject  to  come  to  some  substantial  agree- 
ment as  to  what  it  should  include  in  its  widest  scope.  Yet 
it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  comparatively  few  persons 
have  formulated  in  their  own  minds  what  a  system  of  pub- 
lic education  based  on  philosophical  principles  ought  to 
embrace,  and  there  is  hardly  more  than  a  formal  agreement, 
speaking  by  and  large,  as  to  what  should  be  aimed  at  hi 
a  system  fostered  by  government.  It  is  safe  to  assert 

(238) 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  239 

that  there  would  be  no  dissenting  voiee  to  the  acceptance 
of  the  doctrine  advocated  by  Godwin  in  his  Political  Jus- 
tice that  education  should  mean  "the  adoption  of  every 
principle  of  morality  and  truth  into  the  practice  of  the 
community."  It  is  only  when  the  how  of  this  adoption 
is  discussed  that  we  find  the  wide  diversity  of  views  now 
prevalent. 

It  is  easy  to  frame  an  ideal  system  of  training  for  the 
young  and  it  has s  often  been  done.  The  difficulty  lies 
in  bringing  about  the  acceptance  of  a  workable  system. 
Anent  many  things  to  be  taught  in  school  there  is  not  and 
can  not  be  much  divergence  of  opinion.  There  are  not 
several  kinds  of  mathematics,  or  of  physics,  or  of  biology. 
If  these  subjects  are  taught  at  all  and  so  far  as  they  are 
taught  they  are  substantially  alike. 

The  controversy,  or  at  least  the  discussion,  is  about  those 
subjects  that  are  in  their  nature  intangible,  but  which  are, 
nevertheless,  tangible  and  practical  in  their  results.  All 
education  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  many  if  not 
most  of  the  ills  that  afflict  the  human  race  are  preventable 
by  human  means. 

Few  persons  will  dispute  the  dictum  of  Matthew  Arnold 
that  conduct  is  three-fourths  of  life,  and  those  to  whom 
this  claim  seems  too  large  will  admit  that  conduct  is  at 
least  an  important  part  of  life.  Now  if  the  primary  object 
of  all  education  is  to  influence  conduct  for  the  better ;  if  it 
is  to  impress  upon  the  young  the  importance  of  keeping 
in  check  their  selfish  desires  and  cultivating  their  altruis- 
tic impulses;  if  it  is  to  lead  them  to  see  that  only  such 
knowledge  is  wisely  used  that  is  used  for  the  good  of  others, 
how  shall  these  ends  be  best  attained  ?  Is  the  current  edu- 
cation of  our  day  in  the  United  States  and  abroad  contrib- 
uting materially  to  these  ends  ?  or  at  best,  is  it  contribut- 


240  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

ing  as  much  as  it  should?  No  man  who  has  eyes  that 
see  can  fail  to  have  observed  that  there  is  a  great  chasm 
between  our  education  and  the  life  into  which  the  gradu- 
ates from  every  kind  of  school  are  ushered.  The  great 
majority  of  our  graduates  from  High  School,  College  and 
University  are  idealists.  Whether  they  have  been  particu- 
larly good  students  or  not,  the  very  fact  that  they  have  re- 
mained as  long  as  they  have  in  an  atmosphere  that  at  its 
worst  does  a  great  deal  to  encourage  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge for  its  own  sake,  while  many  of  their  companions  are 
engaged  in  "making  money,"  testifies  to  this  fact.  The 
education  imparted  in  our  schools  is  and  can  not  but  be 
largely  derived  from  books,  at  least  in  so  far  as  it  is  in- 
tended to  influence  conduct.  It  embodies  the  best  thought 
of  the  wisest  men  that  have  lived  in  the  past. 

Our  young  people  read  the  speeches  of  Chatham,  of 
Burke,  of  Webster ;  they  study  the  writings  of  Washington, 
of  Lincoln,  and  of  many  others  who  have  deserved  well  of 
their  country,  to  say  nothing  of  poetry.  Their  histories 
teach  them  that  the  French  Eevolution  was  a  vindication 
of  the  rights  of  man,  and  that  the  course  of  past  events 
furnishes  indubitable  evidence  of  the  moral  order  of  the 
world  in  the  case  of  nations  as  well  as  of  individuals. 
Avarice,  greed  of  power,  disregard  of  justice,  inhumanity 
and  other  vices  have  always  met  their  fitting  reward. 

But  what  is  the  mental  state  of  nine-tenths  of  these  young 
people  after  five  years  of  contact  with  the  great  world, 
with  the  hurly-burly  of  practical  life?  Their  ideals  have 
been  laid  in  the  grave  from  which  there  is  no  resurrection. 
They  read  no  solid  books;  they  keep  up  no  systematic 
study  of  any  branch  of  knowledge;  they  have  no  interest 
in  a  scholarly  atmosphere,  even  when  such  an  atmosphere 
<?an  be  found:  In  short,  five  years  after  graduation  finds 


NATIONAL   EDUCATION.  241 

nine- tenths  of  our  young  people  on  a  decidedly  lower  in- 
tellectual and  moral  plane  than  any  day  of  their  under- 
graduate course.  They  still  have  a  sort  of  vague  faith  in 
the  moral  order  of  the  world,  but  they  fail  to  see,  or  at  least 
to  apprehend  clearly,  that  in  the  small  concerns  of  life,  in 
the  career,  of  each  individual  these  vices  are  just  as  hideous, 
just  as  subversive  of  social  order,  and  if  not  restrained, 
just  as  sure  to  bring  their  punishment  sooner  or  later,  as  in 
the  case  of  those  who  manage  the  affairs  of  states.  In  the 
ethical  domain  there  is  not  one  law  for  the  usurper,  one 
for  the  elected  representative  of  a  free  people  and  one  for 
the  private  citizen. 

We  profess  to  believe  firmly  in  what  we  call  the  higher 
education ;  that  this  profession  is  in  the  case  of  most  per- 
sons genuine  is  proved  by  the  princely  sums  that  have  been 
given  for  the  endowment  of  private  institutions  and  the  lib- 
eral grants  made  by  many  of  our  State  legislatures.  Has 
this  liberality  had  any  appreciable  effect  in  purifying  our 
political  atmosphere  ?  Has  it  made  our  legislators  of  what- 
ever name  or  grade  more  disinterestedly  patriotic  or  less 
venal?  Has  it  made  any  considerable  portion  of  our  citi- 
zens willing  to  serve  the  commonwealth  or  the  community 
without  a  consideration  in  hand  or  in  prospect?  He  who 
will  answer  these  questions  in  the  affirmative  is  either  fatu- 
ously optimistic  or  strangely  blind. 

Let  us  hear  what  a  writer  in  a  recent  number  of  the 
Westminster  Eeview  has  to  say  on  this  matter.  That  he 
tells  the  truth  no  one  who  has  the  opportunity  to  study 
the  conditions  will  deny.  What  the  final  outcome  or  even 
the  effect  in  the  not  very  distant  future  will  be  it  is  im- 
possible to  foretell.  After  speaking  of  the  penchant  for 
the  false,  the  puerile  and  the  decadent,  he  continues:  "If 
the  chimera  of  the  golden-winged  dragon  is  a  dangerous 

16 


242  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

symbol  in  the  Old  World,  the  danger  is  no  less  great  in 
the  New,  where  certain  wealthy  people  are  possessed  by 
the  idea  that  the  word  imperial  contains  a  magic  power  to 
accomplish  the  impossible,  to  compel  Europe  to  a  sense  of 
reverence  and  awe,  to  change  the  institutions,  ideas  and 
aspirations  of  a  natural  and  noble  democracy  into  the  sor- 
did and  fantastic  ambitions  of  a  few  society  leaders  whose 
chief  aim  in  life  is  how  to  surpass  the  fetes  of  sybaritic 
potentates,  and  equal  the  grim  and  empty  pomps  of  their 
apparent  triumphs/'  "There  is  in  America  an  element 
of  snobbery  so  keenly  ambitious,  so  callously  domineering, 
that  nothing  wholly  escapes  its  withering  influence. 
Under  the  guise  of  national  interests  it  makes  its  presence 
felt  at  the  Capitol  and  in  Church  councils,  as  well  as  in 
commercial  centers  whose  leading  minds  are  secretly  actu- 
ated by  a  spirit  of  display,  social  rivalry  and  a  desire  to 
connect  themselves  with  the  European  aristocracy."  "While 
Europe  is  imitating  and  adopting  many  of  the  best  cus- 
toms and  inventions  of  the  Great  Republic,  a  large  class 
in  America  are  imitating  all  that  is  decadent  in  the  life 
of  Europeans.  New  York  is  now  so  intimately  connected 
with  London  that  the  social  elements  in  these  two  cities 
have  become  practically  one.  But  there  is  this  difference; 
while  the  aristocracy  in  the  old  country  is  being  gradually 
levelled  down  to  a  democratic  standard,  the  wealthy  classes 
in  the  new  world  are  copying  the  very  things  which  caused 
degeneracy  in  the  European  noble,  for  there  is  nothing  so 
blind  as  snobbery.  The  all-important  question  among 
certain  people  is  how  to  throw  off  the  aegis  of  republican- 
ism and  democracy/' 

"Three  things  have  caused  this  premature  old  age :  rapid 
and  continued  increase  of  wealth,  the  American's  love  of 
travel,  and  a  hasty,  superficial  culture.  Long-continued 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  243 

prosperity  has  created  a  love  of  luxury  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  the  world;  rapid  and  easy  traveling,  a  taste  for 
foreign  things;  cheap  schools,  colleges  and  literature  a  be- 
lief that  the  highest  culture  consists  in  hearing  and  seeing. 
Americans  have  lived  so  fast  that  only  an  insignificant  few 
have  had  time  to  read  and  digest  the  work  of  the  great 
thinkers  and  writers  like  Emerson,  Lowell  and  Whitman." 
In  confirmation  of  the  last  statement  it  may  be  added  that 
the  book  trade  shows  a  steady  falling  off  during  the  last 
twenty  years  in  the.  works  of  such  authors  as  Emerson, 
Holmes,  Lowell  and  Hawthorne.  One  of  Emerson's  books 
is  sold  to-day  where  ten  were  sold  twenty  years  ago. 

I  have  called  attention  to  this  unfortunate  condition  of 
affairs  in  the  United  States  because,  I  hold  that  in 
spite  of  our  increased  facilities  for  education,  we  are  on 
the  whole  more  degenerate  than  other  civilized  nations. 
It  may  well  be  doubted.  However,  if,  as  Mazzini  said,  a 
nation  has  a  right  to  exist  only  because  it  helps  men  to 
work  together  for  the  good  of  humanity,  what  is  being  done 
at  present  to  fulfill  these  conditions  or  carry  out  this  policy  ? 

For  centuries  Germany  has  been  regarded  as  the  classic 
land  of  ideas  and  ideals.  Its  pre-eminence  in  this  respect 
has  been  frequently  affirmed  by  foreigners  and  is  freely 
admitted  by  the  Germans  themselves.  Nowhere  else  have 
teachers  been  so  self-sacrificing  or  have  pondered  educa- 
tional problems  so  deeply  or  have  accomplished  such  re- 
markable results  of  a  certain  kind  as  the  Germans  during 
a  century  or  more.  Five  years  of  the  Bismarckian  regime 
changed  all  this.  One  aspiration,  one  dream  had  become 
a  reality.  But  at  what  a  sacrifice!  Nowhere  do  we  find 
brute  force,  the  law  of  the  stronger  extolled  and  excused 
as  in  Germany.  Almost  every  historian  and  publicist  of 
prominence  has  become  a  grovelling  hero-worshiper.  What- 


244  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

ever  the  strong  man  does,  whether  right  or  wrong  intrin- 
sically, is  approved,  or  at  least  palliated.  Some  of  the 
leaders  of  public  opinion  tell  us  that  public  and  private 
morality  differ  widely  and  are  sometimes  irreconcilable. 
Deceit,  falsehood  and  double-dealing  are  to  be  uncondition- 
ally condemned  between  man  and  man,  but  not  necessarily 
between  the  representatives  of  nations.  The  law  of  love 
should  be  the  ruling  motive  between  individuals,  but  the 
law  of  brute  force  must  sometimes  be  resorted  to  by  na- 
tions for  their  self-preservation.  The  assumption,  I  suppose, 
is  that  a  nation  which  can  not  preserve  itself  by  fair  means 
or  foul  is  not  worthy  to  exist.  This  state  of  public  opinion 
is  all  the  more  inconsistent  because  in  Germany  the  ra- 
pacity, unscrupulousness  and  brutality  of  two  or  three 
French  monarchs,  but  especially  of  the  First  Napoleon, 
have  long  been  the  theme  of  universal  execration.  In  this 
reversal  of  public  opinion,  this  apotheosis  of  the  man  who 
brings  things  to  pass,  we  see  almost  an  entire  nation  con- 
verted to  the  dangerous  doctrine  that  the  end  justifies  the 
means.  If  there  is  a  country  that  has  flung  idealism  to 
the  winds  it  is  the  land  of  Lessing,  Schiller  and  Goethe; 
of  Froebel  and  Pestalozzi. 

I  am  not  putting  Bismarck  on  the  same  moral  plane  with 
Napoleon,  yet  they  are  at  least  alike  in  this  respect :  they 
.accomplished  their  ends,  partly  by  duplicity,  partly  by  the 
sword.  The  goal  of  the  idealists  was,  indeed,  reached  by 
the  unification  of  Germany ;  but  are  we  compelled  to  admit 
that  an  ideal  can  only  be  realized  when  it  prepares  the  way 
for  the  unscrupulous  man  of  deeds  ? 

The  lengths  to  which  hero-worship  has  gone  in  Ger- 
many is  indicated  by  two  other  si^ns  of  the  times.  Under 
imperial  pressure  the  educational  system  of  Prussia  has 
been  greatly  modified.  Educational  experts,  whether  wisely 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  245 

or  unwisely,  were  by  a  large  majority  opposed  to  the  recent 
changes ;  nevertheless  the  Emperor  had  his  way.  Perhaps 
he  discerned  the  spirit  of  the  age  more  clearly  than  the  ex- 
perts. The  case  is  here  referred  to  neither  for  approval 
nor  condemnation,  but  merely  as  striking  evidence  of  the 
impuissance  of  the  educationist  in  a  country  where  the  one- 
man  power  is  so  pronounced. 

The  second  is  what  we  may  call  the  Nietzsche  cult.  Fried- 
rich  Nietzsche,  who  died  in  1900,  after  several  years  spent 
in  a  madhouse,  proclaimed  with  burning  eloquence  the  un- 
adulterated gospel  of  selfishness.  In  his  writings  he  is 
never  weary  of  pouring  bitter  scorn  and  sneering  contempt 
on  all  the  altruistic  sentiments.  With  equal  eloquence  he 
advocates  the  cause  of  brute  force,  the  total  disregard  of 
the  claims  of  the  weak  and  humble  to  the  slightest  consid- 
eration: In  fact  he  does  not  admit  that  these  have  any 
claims  whatever  on  the  strong.  This  gospel  of  brutality 
is  so  utterly  at  variance  with  every  principle  of  Christian 
and  humane  civilization  that  one  can  hardly  suppress  the 
emotion  of  amazement  when  he  sees  large  numbers  of  pre- 
sumably intelligent  people  taking  it  as  a  real  contribution 
to  modern  thought.  A  pack  of  ravenous  wolves  would  be 
a  peace  society  compared  to  a  body  of  men  trying  to  put 
such  a  creed  into  practice.  Moreover  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  according  to  competent  evidence  the  originator 
of  this  tiger-creed  was  one  Caspar  Schmidt,  who  wrote 
under  the  pseudonym  of  Max  Stirner,  and  who  died  in 
1856  without  attracting  much  attention.*  When  Niotzsche 
appeared  on  the  scene  the  times  were  ripe  for  the  doctrine. 
The  disciple  pleaded  the  master's  cause  with  so  much  fer- 
vor and  laborated  his  system  with  such  care  that  men 


*  Hermann  Tuerck.     Der  Geniale  Mensch.     Berlin,  1901. 


246  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

began  to  take  the  author  and  his  creed  seriously,  either  to 
be  combated  or  commended. 

To  the  educationist  no  less  than  to  the  student  of  the 
history  of  civilization  no  country  presents  so  much  that  is 
of  interest  as  England.  Since  about  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century  its  internal  development  and  its  outward 
expansion  have  been  almost  uninterrupted.  The  loss  of  the 
American  colonies  was  no  serious  check.  During  these 
three  and  a  half  centuries  it  has  been  almost  without  a 
break  the  foremost  power  on  the  globe.  This  pre-eminence 
was  won  and  has  been  maintained,  partly  by  force,  partly 
by  that  elastic  science  called  diplomacy,  but  always  by 
methods  that  were  neither  worse  nor  better  than  those  uni- 
versally in  vogue.  While  England  invariably  looked  out 
for  herself,  often  selfishly,  often  unscrupulously,  her  con- 
duct in  this  regard  was  no  baser,  generally  not  so  base  as 
that  of  her  rivals.  Her  success  as  a  colonizing  power  is 
abundant  evidence  that  in  the  main  she  dealt  fairly  with 
her  subjects  abroad,  no  matter  how  gained. 

England  was  the  only  country  that  came  out  of  the  crisis 
of  the  Eeformation  stronger  than  she  entered  it.  Notwith- 
standing the  diversities  of  religious  belief  within  her  bor- 
ders all  the  creeds  were  overwhelmingly  Protestant.  Ca- 
tholicism did  not  have  a  sufficient  hold  upon  her  people  to 
weaken  her  politically  as  was  the  case  with  more  than  one 
country  of  Continental  Europe.  During  this  period  she 
produced  an  almost  uninterrupted  succession  of  great 
names  in  literature.  In  philosophy,  her  achievements  were 
eclipsed  only  in  the  latter  portion  of  this  period  by  Ger- 
many, but  the  impulse  came  from  England,  or,  more 
strictly  speaking,  from  Scotland.  In  subjugating  the 
forces  of  nature  and  employing  them  in  the  service  of  man 
England  has  led  the  world  except  during  the  last  few 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  247 

decades.  The  same  statement  may  be  made  in  regard  to 
her  position  in  science,  at  least  in  its  practical  aspects. 
Her  constitution  has  been  a  demonstration  of  the  theories 
of  the  political  philosophers  of  the  Continent  and  was 
often  held  up  by  them  as  the  model  of  what  a  government 
ought  to  be.  Comparing  the  English  with  their  nearest 
neighbors  we  may  say  that  they  "are  far  less  fertile  and  in- 
genious in  resources  than  Frenchmen,  but  far  more  likely 
to  do  the  right  thing.  They  are  far  less  educated  than  the 
Germans,  and  yet  they  -are  more  reasonable;  far  less  log- 
ical, but  saner;  far  less  open  to  ideas,  but  infinitely  more 
impervious  to  sophistry."  These  things  being  true,  Eng- 
land might  consistently  be  expected  to  have  had  a  superior 
system  of  public  education.  So  far  from  this  being  the 
case,  she  is  still  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century 
behind  at  least  half  a  score  of  other  countries  of  Europe. 
In  England  expert  educational  opinion  counts  for  amaz- 
ingly little.  Here  then  we  have  the  spectacle  of  a  country 
that  has  had  an  almost  uninterruptedly  progressive  devel- 
opment since  the  days  of  Magna  Charta;  that  has  passed 
through  no  crisis  that  has  materially  modified  its  form  of 
government;  that  changed  its  religious  faHh  without  seri- 
ous internecine  strife;  that  has  at  times  been  ruled  by  as 
inefficient  monarchs  as  ever  sat  upon  a  throne ;  yet  with  all 
these  vicissitudes  has  suffered  no  detriment  or  check.  Nev- 
ertheless, the  general  average  of  the  intelligence  of  its  peo- 
ple has  been  rather  low,  the  proportion  of  its  illiterates 
always  large.  While  England  has  contributed  much  to  the 
political  instruction  of  the  race  it  has  added  nothing  to 
educational  thought  or  experience.  Surely  here  are  con- 
ditions that  border  on  the  marvelous !  We  might  explain 
England's  political  supremacy  as  we  explain  that  of  Rome, 
as  due  to  an  instinct  for  government  developed  by  special 


248  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

conditions;  but  the  parallel  breaks  down  before  it  is  well 
started.  1  shall  make  no  attempt  to  explain  it:  I  am 
only  concerned  with  a  lesson  of  history  that  seems  to  give 
the  lie  to  modern  theories  of  education  which  make  the 
prosperity  of  a  nation  depend  upon  its  general  intelligence. 
or  upon  its  educational  system.  Contrast  with  England 
her  great  rival  of  former  days  and  for  a  long  time  the  lead- 
ing power  of  Continental  Europe  if  not  of  the  world. 
Spain  is  the  most  hopelessly  unprogressive  country  of 
Europe,  not  even  Turkey  excepted.  Is  it  her  destiny  or 
her  fault  ?  All  the  nations  of  the  world  that  have  at  differ- 
ent epochs  acted  a  part  in  its  history  have  exhibited  certain 
traits  and  characteristics  that  were,  as  it  seems,  modified 
neither  by  time  nor  experience, — qualities  that  in  some 
cases  ultimately  led  to  their  destruction.  Was  this  ob- 
stinate resistance  due  to  stupidity,  perversity  or  inexorablf3 
fate? 

In  this  connection  the  transition  is  easy  and  natural  to 
Loyola.  When  discussing  the  merits  and  demerits  of  a  na- 
tional system  of  education  as  contrasted  with  a  scheme  of 
instruction  designed  to  be  cosmopolitan  we  have,  to  some 
extent,  the  light  of  experience  to  guide  us.  The  system  of 
the  Jesuits,  which  was  ushered  into  the  world  almost  full- 
fledged  by  its  f ramer  may  not  have  been  either  rational  or 
philosophical  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  but  that  it 
was  admirably  contrived  for  universality  and  that  it  skill- 
fully avoided  the  disturbing  forces  growing  out  of  differ- 
ences of  nationality  no  one  can  deny.  Neither  will  it  be 
disputed  that  Jesuitism  is  the  most  potent  educational 
agency  ever  devised, — the  most  consistent  and  the  most 
minutely  elaborate  curriculum  of  instruction  both  in  its 
conception  and  execution  the  world  has  yet  seen.  It  is 
admitted  that  the  Jesuits  arrested  the  rising  tide  of  the 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  249 

Reformation  and  in  several  states  of  Europe  restored  the 
Catholic  Church  to  its  earlier  status.  That  it  finally  lost 
ground  was  due  to  its  lack  of  skill  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
progress  of  civilization  and  to  its  persistent  meddling  in 
affairs  that  had  only  the  remotest  connection  with  the  in- 
struction of  the  young.  An  educational  system  formulated 
in  the  main  when  Europe  had  hardly  emerged  from  the 
intellectual  inertia  of  the  Middle  Ages,  so  skillfully  articu- 
lated as  to  be  able  to  maintain  itself  almost  or  quite  to  our 
own  time,  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  intellectual  acumen.  Its 
cosmopolitan  character  had  much  to  do  with  its  decline. 
It  was  native  nowhere,  exotic  everywhere.  That  it  will 
always  remain  an  interesting  study  both  for  what  it  accom- 
plished as  well  as  for  what  it  attempted  and  failed  to  at- 
tain, no  less  than  because  it  is  the  one  system  of  education 
that  is  compact,  consistent,  elaborately  conjoined  in  all  its 
parts,  shrewdly  avoiding  national  differences  or  even  the 
minor  divergences  in  the  church  to  which  it  professed  al- 
legiance, never  losing  sight  of  its  goal  or  allowing  itself  to 
be  diverted  from  its  main  purpose,  all  will  admit  who  know 
anything  of  its  history. 

It  is  a  truism  that  the  rising  generation  is  to  be  educated 
for  the  institutional  life  of  adult  years;  or  to  express  it 
differently,  the  young  of  both  sexes  are  to  learn  those 
things  which  they  will  have  use  for  when  they  are  grown 
up.  What  are  we  to  understand  by  institutional  life  ?  and 
since  the  young  can  learn  only  a  small  part  of  what  they 
need  later,  how  shall  we  select  what  is  most  important? 
Of  late  years  there  has  been  a  constant  pressure  on  our 
courses  of  study  for  the  admission  of  more  subjects,  pa- 
trons evidently  holding  the  belief  that  whatever  the  young 
are  to  learn  at  all  they  are  to  be  taught  at  school.  Yet 
every  educationist  knows  that  the  more  varied  the  informa- 


250  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

tion  imparted  to  the  learner  the  less  he  is  educated.  As 
to  institutions,  are  we  to  keep  in  view  those  that  now  exist 
or  those  that  may  be  developed  in  the  course  of  time  ?  If 
they  are  to  be  modified,  what  is  to  be  the  determining  fac- 
tor ?  Study  present  conditions  and  see  how  opinions  differ. 
In  Germany,  as  has  already  been  shown,  public  education 
is  shaped  toward  the  maintenance  of  a  rigorous  autocracy, 
in  spite  of  some  pretty  loud  protests ;  in  France,  toward  the 
strengthening  of  republicanism,  though  not  without  oppo- 
sition. England  is  in  a  somewhat  chaotic  condition,  as  it 
has  always  been.  In  the  different  sections  of  our  own 
country,  and  even  in  different  portions  of  the  same  State, 
public  opinion  is  moving  in  various  directions.  In  the 
South  the  evident  trend  is  toward  the  nullification  or 
elimination  of  all  influence  on  the  part  of  the  colored  peo- 
ple. There,  as  well  as  in  some  portions  of  the  North,  the 
rights  of  the  white  man  and  of  the  black  man  are  measured 
by  totally  different  standards.  Abstractly  judged,  such  a 
state  of  affairs  is  more  unjust  than  the  old-time  creed  that 
the  laborer's  sons  are  to  be  brought  up  as  laborers;  the 
peasant's  children  to  remain  peasants,  while  the  nobleman 
shall  not  be  permitted  to  forfeit  his  nobility  no  matter 
what  he  does;  because  the  rule  always  admitted  of  excep- 
tions. Again,  in  Germany  religious  instruction  with  a 
strongly  dogmatic  flavor  is  obligatory  in  all  primary  and 
secondary  schools.  To  some  extent  the  same  statement  ap- 
plies to  England.  On  the  other  hand,  in  France  all  re- 
ligious instruction  is  rigorously  barred  from  the  schools. 
In  the  United  States  the  conditions  are  mixed.  What  we 
call  popular  education  is  non-sectarian  and  non-religious; 
but  a  large  proportion  of  the  people,  both  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  are  dissatisfied  with  the  omission  and  are  en- 
deavoring, in  various  ways,  to  supply  the  lack. 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  251 

That  denominationalism  still  has  a  strong  hold  upon  the 
people  of  this  country  cannot  be  doubted.  In  fact  it  seems 
to  be  a  characteristic  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  Again,  a 
rational  system  of  instruction,  rational  instruction  of  every 
kind  must  be  based  on  truth,  or  at  least  on  an  honest  quest 
for  truth  without  regard  to  the  consequences.  Truth  al- 
ways prevails  in  the  end.  The  wise  nif\n  profits  by  his 
own  mistakes  and  is  careful  not  to  repeat  them,  or  if  he  has 
the  opportunity,  he  takes  warning  from  the  blunders  of 
others.  How  is  it  with  nations?  Are  they,  generally 
speaking,  willing  to  have  the  disagreeable  truths  of  their 
past  history  put  before  the  rising  generation?  We  may 
answer,  Never.  For  more  than  three  centuries  we  have 
had  Protestant  histories  and  Catholic  histories,  neither 
party  being  willing  to  accept  the  others  as  the  truth  or  ac- 
knowledge that  its  own  side  may  have  now  and  then  been 
in  the  wrong.  A  school  history  that  is  acceptable  to  the 
Southern  people  does  not  meet  with  favor  in  the  North. 
The  men  who  sacrificed  their  lives  on  the  battlefield  are 
called  heroes  in  one  section,  rebels  in  the  other.  We  have 
been  taught  to  believe  that  the  men  who  brought  about  the 
separation  of  the  Colonies  from  the  mother  country  were 
all  patriots,  ready  to  sacrifice  everything  on  the  altar  of 
their  country.  The  facts  tell  a  different  story;  but  these 
facts  are  known  only  to  a  few  special  students  of  our  his- 
tory. We  are  not  a  military  nation ;  yet  public  opinion  is 
wont  to  characterize  as  treason  or  something  closely  akin 
thereto  any  expression  that  appears  to  disparage  our  na- 
tional prowess  by  land  or  sea.  Fouillee  says,  "There  is 
nothing  more  unmeaning  than  historical  facts,  unless  we 
make  them  mean  something  more  doubtful  still  when  we 
want  to  make  them  mean  anything.  Orators  on  each  side 
of  the  house  will  draw  their  arguments  from  history.  His- 


252  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

tory,  especially  contemporary  history,  proves  everything 
and  nothing.  Even  the  events  of  our  own  age  are  as  yet 
only  documents,  the  final  value  of  which  is  uncertain.  The 
history  of  Napoleon  I.,  for  example,  is  not  yet  written. 
Read  Lanfrey  after  Thiers,  and  Taine  after  Lanfrey  and 
draw  a  conclusion  if  you  can." 

Almost  every  year  sees  the  appearance  of  a  fresh  Life 
of  the  Great  Corsican  that  claims  to  throw  some  new  light 
on  his  career  and  his  character.  Taine  is  one  of  the  most 
popular  of  recent  French  writers;  of  his  method  Henry 
James  truthfully  says :  "A  thin  soil  of  historical  evidence 
is  made  to  produce  luxuriant  flowers  of  deduction."  Some 
of  the  most  widely  read  books  professing  to  be  histories  are 
not  histories  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  term.  To  make 
history  popular  it  must  be  more  or  less  polemic,  no  matter 
what  period  is  dealt  with.  Mitford  and  Grote  constantly 
draw  opposite  conclusions  from  the  same  data,  and  inject 
the  present  into  the  interpretation  of  events  that  occurred 
more  than  two  thousand  years  ago.* 

Few  persons  who  have  studied  our  war  with  Mexico  will 
deny  that  it  was  a  most  unjustifiable  war  of  aggression. 
On  this  subject,  however,  most  of  our  school  histories  have 
not  a  little  to  say  about  the  bravery  of  our  soldiers  and 

*The  unwillingness  of  a  people  to  be  reminded  of  their  national 
sins  is  strikingly  exemplified  by  the  conduct  of  the  Athenians  with 
reference  to  the  dramatic  representation  of  the  Capture  of  Miletus 
by  the  Poet  Phrynicus.  The  whole  theatre,  Herodotus  tells  us. 
burst  into  tears,  and  the  author  was  afterward  heavily  fined  by 
the  assembly  for  recalling  to  them  their  own  misfortunes.  A 
law  was  likewise  passed  that  no  one  should  ever  again  exhibit 
this  piece.  The  sting  of  the  reminder  lay  in  the  crooked  policy 
that  it  recalled.  As  if  silence  could  condone  a  mean  or  a  mis- 
taken act! 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  258 

the  brilliant  strategy  of  our  generals,  while  they  are  silent 
upon  the  merits  of  the  controversy. 

A  few  years  ago  the  so-called  Dreyfus  affair  was  a  burn- 
ing question  in  France.  Nine-tenths  of  our  periodicals 
were  on  the  side  of  the  accused  and  vilipended  the  French 
people,  and  especially  the  courts  of  justice,  for  their  sub- 
serviency to  the  military  spirit.  They  professed  to  know 
all  about  the  case,  when  from  its  very  nature  they  could 
know  very  little.  We  are  constantly  meeting  with  similar 
disparaging  judgments  upon  army-ridden  Germany. 

Albeit,  few  of  us  seem  to  notice  a  similar  condition  of 
things  at  home.  Without  any  reference  to  the  merits  of 
the  case,  the  man  who  publicly  criticises  our  army  or  im- 
pugns the  motives  of  those  who  fought  in  any  of  the  wars 
in  which  this  country  has  been  engaged  is  certain  to  be 
branded  by  many  as  disloyal.  If  some  one  ventures  the  as- 
sertion that  many  lawyers  are  dishonest,  or  that  some  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel  are  hypocrites,  or  that  not  all  who 
teach  are  fit  for  their  vocation,  nobody  takes  exception. 
Such  assertions  are  frequently  made  and  accepted  as  mat- 
ters of  course.  But  let  some  one  affirm  that  many  who  en- 
tered our  army  did  so  from  mercenary  motives  or  from  love 
of  adventure;  and  that  not  a  few  who  belonged  to  it  were 
cowards  and  skulkers,  the  affirmation  is  sure  to  be  branded 
as  a  lie  or  as  evidence  of  a  bad  heart. 

How  much  we  are  still  dominated,  as  we  have  always 
been,  by  the  military  spirit  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  nearly 
all  our  Presidents  had  seen  service  in  the  field:  some  of 
them  would  never  have  been  thought  of  in  connection  with 
this  high  office  except  for  their  military  record.  The  Ger- 
mans have  erected  many  statues  to  great  soldiers  and  in 
commemoration  of  important  battles:  Is  the  proportion 
any  less  in  this  country,  compared  to  the  civilians  thus 


254  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

honored?  At  present  we  are  spending  more  money  for 
wars  past  and  to  come  than  any  government  on  the  face  of 
the  earth. 

It  is  the  nature  of  man  to  glorify  brute  force,  to  extol 
the  exhibition  of  physical  courage  even  in  a  prize-fight, 
and  to  ignore  or  make  light  of  the  display  of  moral  cour- 
age,— that  courage  which  silently  opposes  wrong  from  day 
to  day  and  which  is  a  thousand  times  more  important  to 
the  welfare  of  the  community  than  the  sporadic  and  the 
spectacular.  It  constantly  happens  that  more  fortitude  is 
required  to  refrain  from  doing  than  to  do. 

When  we  reflect  upon  this  universal  tendency  to  laud  and 
magnify  violent  measures  we  become  painfully  aware  of 
the  length  of  the  way  the  world  has  still  to  travel  before  it 
shall  have  outgrown  the  centuries  and  aeons  of  inherited 
tendencies  and  reached  the  goal  of  a  truly  enlightened 
civilization.  We  are  still  sadly  dominated  by  the  instincts 
of  the  savage  and  the  brute.  If  we  do  not  ourselves  fight 
we  pray  for  and  commend  those  who  do.  We  still  have  the 
civilization  of  the  boys  who  when  they  cannot  settle  a 
dispute  by  argument  fall  to  blows  in  order  to  determine 
which  party  is  in  the  right  and  which  in  the  wrong. 

How  strangely  inconsistent  are  the  nations  of  the  earth ! 
They  all  profess  to  believe  that  historical  judgments  are 
the  applications  of  morality  in  the  case  of  other  nations: 
in  their  own  case  they  do  not  wish  to  have  the  whole  truth 
told  to  the  rising  generation  lest  it  impair  the  vigor  of 
their  patriotism.  As  if  patriotism  and  pugnacity  were  in- 
terchangeable terms ! 

You  may  moralize  as  much  as  you  please,  provided  you 
do  not  approach  too  near  the  present  in  time  and  place. 

In  a  court  of  justice,  when  it  is  important  to  ascertain 
the  character  and  -reputation  of  a.  man,  testimony  from 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  255 

friends  or  relatives  and  otherwise  interested  parties  is  rig- 
idly excluded.  But  in  national  history  we  reverse  the  pro- 
cess; we  do  not  want  to  hear  disagreeable  truths  that 
wholly  disinterested  parties  might  tell.  Yet  the  world 
talks  of  adjusting  its  international  disagreements  by  arbi- 
tration through  disinterested  parties!  We  repeat  trip- 
pingly from  the  tongue, 

"0  wad  some  pow'r  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  oursels  as  ithers  see  us! 
It  wad  f rae  mony  a  blunder  free  us, 
And  foolish  notion." 

But  we  rarely  think  of  acting  upon  it.  Except  under  com- 
pulsion the  testimony  of  a  foreigner  or  a  stranger  is  ruled 
out  in  advance :  as  if  truth  and  honesty,  veracity  and  char- 
ity, courage  and  fidelity  were  not  universal  virtues !  As 
if  anything  could  make  the  nations  of  the  earth  genuinely 
free  except  the  truth!  Before  we  reach  the  age  of  forty 
most  of  us  have  become  impervious  to  new  ideas ;  our  stock 
of  wisdom  is  complete.  Few  persons  are  sincerely  desirous 
to  know  the  truth ;  yet  our  schools  are  expected  to  teach  the 
truth  and  the  truth  only ! 

What  is  it  to  be  educated  ?  I  can  do  no  better,  when  at- 
tempting to  answer  the  question,  than  to  quote  from  an 
essay  of  the  late  E.  E.  Sill.  "An  educated  man — what 
is  it  that  we  understand  by  the  phrase?  If  it  would  not 
be  easy  to  set  down  all  that  it  connotes  in  our  various 
minds,  we  should  probably  agree  that  it  includes,  among 
other  things,  such  qualities  as  these:  a  certain  largeness 
of  view;  an  acquaintance  with  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
world ;  the  apprehension  of  principles ;  the  power  and  habit 
of  independent  thought;  the  freedom  from  personal  pro- 


256  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

vincialism  and  the  recognition  of  the  other  point  of  view; 
an  underlying  nobleness  of  intention;  the  persistence  in 
magnanimous  aims."  In  the  last  analysis  men's  duties 
do  not  differ  widely  from  each  other;  it  is  in  the  ability  to 
perform  them  that  the  educated  man  has  the  advantage. 
But  we  must  always  remember  that  "if  it  were  as  easy  to  do 
as  it  is  to  know,  then  were  all  sinners  virtuous,"  and  here 
the  educated,  or  at  least  those  supposed  to  be  educated, 
often  fall  short.  Huxley  has  tersely  stated  the  case.  "We 
live  in  a  world  which  is  full  of  misery  and  ignorance,  and 
the  plain  duty  of  each  and  all  of  us  is  to  try  to  make  the 
little  corner  we  can  influence  somewhat  less  miserable  and 
somewhat  less  ignorant  than  when  we  entered  it.  To  do 
this  effectually  it  is  necessary  to  be  fully  possessed  of  only 
two  beliefs:  The  first,  that  the  order  of  nature  is  ascer- 
tainable  by  our  faculties  to  an  extent  which  is  practically 
unlimited;  the  second,  that  our  volition  counts  for  some- 
thing as  a  condition  of  the  course  of  events." 

Every  one  who  has  reflected  on  the  true  principles  of 
teaching  will  admit  that  our  age  has  discovered  nothing 
new.  What  for  a  time  may  look  like  a  novelty  will  upon 
larger  information  prove  to  have  been  thought  of  by  some- 
body. It  is  always  a  question  of  the  attitude  of  the  mind 
toward  knowledge.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  he  who 
reflects  will  constantly  find  rising  in  his  mind  thoughts 
and  suggestions  that  are  the  counterpart  of  what  he  finds 
in  books,  as  his  reading  becomes  more  extensive.  Think- 
ers in  all  ages  and  in  every  part  of  the  world  have  pursued 
the  same  paths  and  in  many  instances  reached  the  same  des- 
tination. He  who  desires  to  know  shall  know,  it  matters 
little  what  his  era  or  station  in  life.  He  who  is  indifferent, 
who  does  not  seek  to  cultivate  alertness  of  mind,  who  goes 
through  the  world  with  his  eyes  half  closed  and  his  mind 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  257 

hermetically  sealed  against  new  ideas,  w^o  has  made  up 
his  mind  in  advance  upon  every  question  that  comes  before 
him,  must  always  remain  more  or  less  ignorant.  Little  as 
men  know,  even  the  wisest  of  them,  how  few  among  them 
live  up  to  the  measure  of  their  knowledge ! 

It  ought  not  to  enter  the  minds  of  any  considerable  pro- 
portion of  a  free  people  that  they  are  tho  victims  of  an 
inexorable  destiny.  This  phrase  may  not  be  out  of  place  in 
the  mouth  of  a  Roman  historian  who  felt  constrained  to 
say  of  his  countrymen  that  they  could  neither  endure  their 
ills  nor  their  cure ;  but  it  ought  not  to  be  necessary  to  use 
it  of  any  people  who  have  sufficient  intelligence  to  compre- 
hend in  any  appreciable  measure  the  lessons  of  their  own 
past  and  those  of  the  nations  about  them.  But  it  is  an  al- 
most equally  fatal  delusion  when  a  people  so  far  forgets  the 
vicissitudes  of  national  growth  and  decay  as  to  imagine  its 
preponderance  assured  no  matter  what  it  may  do.  With 
the  rapid  intercourse  now  prevailing  between  different 
parts  of  the  world  it  is  easy  for  those  who  will  to  profit  by 
the  experiments  and  mistakes  of  others.  What  is  the  ad- 
vantage in  having  the  power  to  think  if  it  does  not  lead  men 
to  reflect  upon  the  consequences  of  their  acts  whether  done 
individually  or  collectively  ?  Even  a  brute  does  not  repeat 
its  own  mistakes  indefinitely:  How  much  less  does  it  be- 
come a  human  being  to  do  so ! 

When  we  carefully  consider  the  obstacles  that  have  al- 
ways obstructed  the  formulation  and  adoption  of  a  truly 
rational  system  of  education  in  every  county  of  the  world, 
we  must  realize  that  the  most  enlightened  nations  are  still 
a  long  way  from  it.  Even  demonstrable  truth  can  not 
always  obtain  a  hearing.  It  will  not  do  any  good  where 
there  are  no  schools  nor  benefit  those  who  are  not  in  school. 

17 


258  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

Neither  is  it  just  to  assume  that  all  who  teach  are  compe- 
tent and  in  their  places  because  of  merit.  Everybody  who 
cares  to  know  is  aware  that  such  is  not  the  case.  It  must 
be  said  to  the  credit  of  the  business  as  well  as  to  that  of  the 
professional  world  that  it  has  little  use  for  drones  and  in- 
competents. They  are  soon  weeded  out  and  thrown  into 
a  corner  to  eke  out  such  an  existence  as  they  may. 

I  repeat,  there  will  always  be  some  who  learn  nothing,  but 
the  number  ought  to  be  continually  growing  smaller  until 
it  becomes  an  insignificant  minority.  It  is  plain  that  there 
are  many  subjects  in  our  school  courses  that  can  not  be 
judiciously  presented  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  out  promi- 
nently their  full  moral  import.  Often  it  is  not  wise  to 
insist  too  strongly  on  facts,  if  they  are  calculated  to  give 
rise  to  controversy.  Many  a  conscientious  teacher  has  lost 
his  place  through  lack  of  tact  or  disregard  of  possible  conse- 
quences. But  the  progress  of  truth  can  not  be  permanently 
arrested.  The  supremacy,  like  Alexander's  ring,  will  be- 
long to  the  most  worthy.  Even  so  short  an  experience  as 
that  of  one  generation  proves  this  incontestably.  Every 
country  of  Europe,  with  a  possible  exception  or  two,  al- 
most all  North  America  and  much  of  the  rest  of  the  world 
is  far  better  off  than  it  was  two  or  three  score  years  ago. 
All  this  is  due  to  the  advance  of  science,  to  the  enlighten- 
ment fostered  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  by  educational 
systems,  unphilosophical  as  they  still  are.  Progress  has 
never  been  uniform ;  nor  has  it  been  without  relapses  here 
and  there.  But  we  can  say  with  Galilleo  in  the  fullest  con- 
fidence, E  pur  si  muove.  What  richer  reward  can  we  wish 
for  ourselves  than  the  honest  conviction  that  we  have  con- 
tributed something,  however  little,  to  the  movement,  'even 
though  our  acts  have  at  times  brought  \is  unpopularity 
and  unjust  treatment  ?  Time  will  vindicate  us. 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  250 

Readers  of  this  paper  as  well  as  of  some  of  those  that 
have  preceded  it,  will  doubtless  have  made  up  their  minds 
that  like  Rasselas  they  have  "reached  a  conclusion  in  which 
nothing  is  concluded."  But  let  them  remember  that  a 
greater  than  Dr.  Johnston,  that  prince  of  philosophers, 
the  son  of  Sophroniscus,  was  more  concerned  to  stimulate 
thought  and  provoke-  inquiry  than  to  answer  questions.  In 
the  complex  and  changing  life  of  modern  states  few  prob- 
lems can  be  solved  once  for  all;  most  of  them  are  in  a 
continual  process  of  solution.  Some  of  them  have  been 
settled  a  hundred  times  by  a  thousand  different  persons 
only  to  come  up  anew  to  vex  their  successors.  Nothing 
is  so  much  to  be  feared  as  stagnation ;  and  the  most  useless 
member  of  a  community  is  the  person  who  always  knows 
just  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it,  but  who  does  not  furnish 
the  motive  that  will  constrain  men  to  adopt  his  advice.  So 
long  as  we  honestly  keep  seeking  to  know  and  patiently 
keep  trying  to  do,  our  labor  will  not  be  all  or  altogether  in 
vain. 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC 
MORALITY. 

On  the  sixth  of  November,  1874,  Dr.  Gustavus  Ruemelin 
delivered  a  lecture  before  the  University  of  Tuebingen  on 
the  relation  of  private  to  public  morality.  It  was  called 
forth  by  the  desire  to  justify  the  somewhat  tortuous  policy 
of  Bismarck  in  bringing  about  the  unification  of  Germany. 
As  this  lecture  was  included  in  a  volume  published  the  fol- 
lowing year,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  it  embodies  his  mature 
views  on  this  difficult  question.  Moreover,  as  Dr.  Reumelin 
was  the  head  of  ecclesiastical  and  educational  affairs  in  the 
kingdom  of  Wurtemberg  and  chancellor  of  the  royal  uni- 
versity, we  are  justified  in  holding  that  the  case  was  pre- 
sented as  strongly  as  it  could  be  put  from  his  point  of  view. 
It  is  therefore  eminently  fitting  that  his  address  should  be 
discussed  in  a  book  of  this  kind.* 

He  tells  us  that  there  is  often  a  conflict  between  our 
duties  as  individuals  and  our  duties  as  members  of  the  body 
politic;  that  in  the  first  relation  the  controlling  motive 
should  be  the  law  of  love;  in  the  second,  the  law  of  self- 
preservation.  But  he  lays  down  no  rule  by  which  we  shall 
be  enabled  in  all  cases  or  even  in  most  cases  to  distinguish 
between  the  two  relations.  We  need  not  be  surprised  at  this 

*It  has  recently  (1901)  been  translated  into  English  under  the 
title  Politics  and  the  Moral  Law  and  is  published  by  MacMillan  & 
Co..  New  York  and  London. 

(260) 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  261 

apparent  omission.  We  may  be  sure  that  it  was  not  an 
oversight  on  the  part  of  the  distinguished  lecturer,  nor  need 
we  be  surprised  that  he  did  not  solve  a  problem  that  has 
engaged  the  attention  of  some  of  the  ablest  men  that  have 
ever  lived,  since  they  too  have  not  been  able  to  solve  it.  Four 
hundred  years  B.  C.  the  wisest  of  the  Greeks,  a  man  who 
has  exercised  an  abiding  influence  on  the  progress  of 
thought,  was  condemned  to  death  by  his  fellow-citizens  for 
crimes  of  which  he  was  not  guilty.  It  was  a  clear  case  of 
injustice  committed  by  the  body  of  the  citizens  in  their 
sovereign  capacity  against  an  individual.  Yet  the  victim 
calmly  submitted  to  his  fate  rather  than  resort  to  any  of  the 
means  of  escape  that  were  proposed  by  his  friends.  His 
argument  was,  in  substance,  that  he  had  all  his  life  acknowl- 
edged the  authority  of  the  laws  under  which  he  was  con- 
demned to  die  and  that  to  thwart  them  in  any  way  in  their 
operation  would  be  committing  a  greater  wrong  than  he 
was  about  to  suffer ;  that  if  his  fellow  countrymen  were  will- 
ing to  incur  the  odium  of  putting  an  innocent  man  to  death, 
it  was  their  matter,  not  his ;  and  that  it  is  always  better  to 
suffer  wrong  than  to  do  wrong.  The  unanimous  verdict  of 
posterity  is  that  he  reasoned  rightly.  Yet  this  same  man 
was  the  first  great  champion  of  the  rights  of  the  individual. 
He  vigorously  denied  that  men  can  make  that  right  which" 
is  not  intrinsically  so.  The  burden  of  his  philosophy  is 
that  underneath  and  behind  all  convention  there  are  eter- 
nally valid  principles  that  vary  not  with  different  people 
nor  grow  old  with  the  lapse  of  time.  And  so  for  nearly  two 
and  a  half  millenniums  the  world  has  regarded  Socrates  as 
a  martyr  to  his  devotion  to  truth  and  consistency. 

The  history  of  the  Christian  church  records  the  names  of 
many  who  shared  the  fate  of  the  Greek  philosopher,  and  for 
the  same  reason,  viz :  the  conflict  of  individual  opinion  with 


262  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

political  institutions.  Thousands  of  good  men  and  women 
have  had  brought  home  to  them  the  question  addressed  to 
the  rulers  by  Peter  and  John,  "Whether  it  be  right  in  the 
sight  of  God  ^o  hearken  unto  you  rather  than  unto  God, 
judge  ye ;  for  we  can  not  but  speak  the  things  which  we  saw 
and  heard/' — in  other  words  we  can  not  but  follow  the 
dictates  of  our  own  consciences. 

A  distinguished  Greek  dramatist  has  treated  the  same 
conflict  of  duties  in  the  tragedy  of  Antigone.  The  heroine 
finds  herself  in  a  position  where  she  is  compelled  to  choose 
between  obedience  to  an  absolute  monarch  who  has  her 
destiny  wholly  in  his  hands,  and 'obedience  to  a  higher  law 
that  long  antedates  human  institutions.  She  unflinchingly 
takes  her  stand  for  what  she  conceives  to  be  the  right  and 
expresses  her  willingness  to  bear  the  consequences  of  her 
disobedience  to  the  edicts  of  a  temporal  sovereign.  The 
poet  plainly  shows  where  his  sympathies  lie,  and  posterity 
remembers  Antigone  as  one  of  the  noblest  characters  handed 
down  to  us  from  ancient  times.  She  suffered  a  painful 
but  glorious  death  while  the  gods  took  terrible  vengeance 
upon  her  slayer. 

In  the  last  century  when  the  agitation  was  going  on  in 
this  country  for  a  separation  from  Great  Britain  there  was 
in  some  of  the  colonies  a  strong  party  that  was  opposed  to 
such  action.  They  were  loyal  subjects  of  the  government 
under  which  they  lived  and  they  justly  regarded  the  move- 
ment for  separation  as  treasonable.  Nor  have  we  any  right 
to  question  the  motives  or  the  sincerity  of  these  so-called 
loyalists.  But  the  stars  in  their  courses  were  against  them 
and  the  Declaration  of  Independence  made  them  outlaws. 
Many  of  them  lost  their  lives  for  the  cause  to  which  they 
adhered.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  reason  to  question  the 
motives  of  most  of  those  who  led  in  the  movement  for  inde- 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  263 

pendence,  but  it  would  be  a  strange  misapprehension  of 
human  nature  to  assume  that  all  who  called  themselves 
patriots  were  men  who  unselfishly  sought  the  welfare  of 
their  country.  In  this  conflict  of  duties  face  to  face  with 
which  many  people  found  themselves,  some  took  one  course, 
some  another.  Shall  we  say  that  because  independence  was 
achieved  the  separatists  alone  were  right  and  their  oppo- 
nents wrong,  or  shall  we  say  that  no  question  of  right  and 
wrong  was  involved  but  only  one  of  expediency?  Or  shall 
we  say  that  in  this  cause  it  was  impossible  to  determine  a 
priori  what  was  right  and  what  was  wrong;  that  the  issue 
of  the  conflict  alone  could  decide  the  question?  It  is  true 
such  epithets  as  traitor,  treason,  rebel,  and  others  of  like 
import,  do  not  necessarily  belong  in  the  vocabulary  of 
morals.  They  are  oftener  mere  political  terms  and  have  no 
ethical  import  whatever.  The  careful  thinker  is  not  misled 
by  them,  but  in  the  mouth  of  the  multitude  they  usually 
have  a  dire  significance. 

Dr.  Ruemelin  distinctly  maintains  that  the  state,  that  is, 
men  organized  into  a  government,  may  do  things  that  would 
be  clearly  wrong  for  any  individual  or  group  of  individuals. 
This  position  is  as  old  as  government,  and  I  fear  that  in 
this  case  too  we  often  speak  of  right  and  wrong  where  we 
really  mean  expediency.  Let  us  not  be  misled  by  confound- 
ing right  with  rights.  The  two  words  are  almost  identical 
in  form,  but  widely  divergent  in  signification.  There  can 
not  well  be  any  question  of  the  right  of  the  government  to 
take  from  me  the  rights  it  has  conferred  upon  me.  Pro- 
tection to  life  and  property,  a  certain  measure  of  liberty  of 
action  is  guaranteed  by  all  governments  to  their  subjects. 
Here  we  are  dealing  with  prescriptive  and  statutory,  and 
not  with  inherent  or  natural  rights.  The  history  of  slavery 
is  testimony  to  the  fact  that  until  comparatively  recent 


2G4  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

times  personal  servitude  was  not  regarded  as  being  in  con- 
travention of  any  natural  right.  On  this  point  as  on  many 
others  there  is  a  manifest  expansion  of  the  ethical  idea.  It 
has  drawn  within  the  sphere  of  its  influence  a  larger  num- 
ber of  social  relations.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there 
ever  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  when  it 
was  entirely  without  moral  sentiment.  I  hold  that  the 
term  man  postulates  a  being  that  for  reasons  other  than  per- 
sonal felt  that  there  were  some  things  to  be  done  and  others 
to  be  left  undone.  But  the  feeling  of  obligation  and  soli- 
darity was  developed  only  to  a  limited  extent  as  long  as  men 
had  not  reached  a  stage  of  society  higher  than  the  family 
and  the  tribe.  On  this  stage  many  peoples  have  remained 
to  the  present  day.  The  early  history  of  mankind  shows 
that  the  whole  human  race  passed  through  this  stage.  He 
who  did  not  belong  to  the  tribe  was  regarded  as  an  enemy, 
and  some  of  the  most  bitter  wars  were  intertribal.  In  the 
course  of  time,  tribes  were  fused  into  larger  aggregates  and 
the  feeling  of  nationality  was  engendered.  The  sentiment 
of  kinship  began  to  embrace  larger  social  areas. 

By  a  continued  extension  of  the  process  great  nations 
were  formed.  In  this  way  every  man  under  the  same  gov- 
ernment and  belonging  to  the  same  nation  came  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  fact  that  he  owed  something  to  his  fellow-citizen 
though  he  lived  far  distant  and  quite  beyond  the  range  of 
personal  acquaintance.  In  time,  the  more  enlightened  na- 
tions even  began  to  feel  that  they  could  not  be  wholly  in- 
different to  the  fate  of  any  member  of  the  human  race.  To 
this  feeling  is  due  the  interest  taken  in  England  and 
America  in  the  suffering  Armenians,  Cubans,  and  in  the 
suppression  of  the  slave  trade  in  Africa.  The  humanitar- 
ian sentiment  finally  overflows  geographical  boundaries  and 
brings  the  whole  world  within  the  scope  of  its  activity.  The 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  265 

most  practical  form  of  this  altruism  is  seen  in  the  labors  of 
the  missionary.  It  goes  even  beyond  men  and  includes 
within  its  sphere  the  entire  sentiment  creation.  This  senti- 
ment has  been  fostered  and  greatly  promoted  by  the  growth 
and  spread  of  intelligence  by  means  of  national  and  inter- 
national commerce.  We  can  feel  no  interest  in  a  people 
about  whom  we  know  nothing.  It  is  true  we  may  know 
and  yet  be  indifferent;  but  the  feeling  of  interest  and  sym- 
pathy must  have  something  to  feed  on.  If  we  do  not  know, 
we  are  sure  to  be  indifferent. 

It  is  the  custom  of  some  people  to  disparage  commerce 
as  founded  on  mere  self-interest ;  and  there  is  some  truth  in 
the  charge.  But  self-interest  is  not  necessarily  selfishness. 
It  may  be  wisely  directed,  and  generally  gives  as  much  as  it 
takes,  and  very  often  more.  With  the  increase  of  knowl- 
edge and  the  frequency  of  intercourse  there  is  developed  the 
clearer  recognition  of  what  is  due  from  one  man  to  another. 
Facility  of  commercial  intercourse  is  fostered  by  commer- 
cial integrity.  Business  can  not  long  be  carried  on  except 
on  well  established  business  principles.  Otherwise  it  is 
robbery. 

Without  exception  the  nations  of  Europe  are  living  on  a 
higher  moral  plane  than  that  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  and 
on  a  considerably  higher  plane  than  that  of  two  hundred 
years  ago.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  nation  in  Europe  to- 
day that  would  tolerate  the  low  private  moral  standard  that 
was  almost  universal  in  court  circles  of  the  last  century. 
Speaking  only  of  England,  Thackeray  says:  "No  wonder 
that  Whitefield  cried  out  in  the  wilderness, — that  Wesley 
quitted  the  insulted  temple  to  pray  on  the  hillside.  I  look 
with  reverence  on  these  men  at  that  time.  Which  is  the 
sublimer  spectacle, — the  good  John  Wesley  surrounded  by 
his  congregation  at  the  pit's  mouth,  or  the  Queen's  chaplain 


266  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

mumbling  through  his  morning  office  in  the  anteroom  under 
the  picture  of  the  great  Venus,  with  the  door  opening  into 
the  adjoining  chamber  where  the  Queen  is  dressing,  talking 
scandal  to  Lord  Hervey,  or  uttering  sneers  at  Lady  Suffolk, 
who  is  kneeling  with  a  basin  at  her  mistress's  feet  ?" 

The  history  of  the  world  is  a  gruesome  tale.  It  is  little 
else  even  for  the  times  of  peace  than  the  record  of  intrigue 
of  court  against  court;  of  courtier  against  courtier;  of 
wickedness  in  high  places  and  of  the  oppression  of  the 
lowly.  Vice,  crime,  trickery,  and  immorality  seem  to  have 
held  high  carnival  from  age  to  age.  But  let  us  not  forget 
what  our  greatest  poet  says:  "The  evil  that  men  do  lives 
after  them,  The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones."  If 
the  ruling  classes  in  general  showed  no  sympathy  for  their 
subjects,  these  often  displayed  deeds  of  heroic  self-sacrifice 
toward  each  other.  God  has  never  been  without  his  wit- 
nesses ;  nobility  of  soul  without  its  representatives.  Count- 
less acts  of  kindness  have  passed  unnoticed  except  by  the  re- 
cipient and  there  has  never  been  a  total  lack  of  those  who 
felt  that  they  were  their  brother's  keeper.  I  freely  acknowl- 
edge, for  I  can  not  disbelieve  the  evidence,  that  our  politics 
is  still  sadly  corrupt;  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  fear- 
fully so.  Yet  I  am  convinced  that  on  the  whole  it  stands 
on  a  higher  plane  than  ever  before.  If  as  yet  not  as  much 
has  been  accomplished  in  the  way  of  its  reform,  as  good 
men  have  wished,  the  generally  acknowledged  necessity  of 
reform  is  in  itself  a  hopeful  sign.  We  are  at  least  alive  to 
the  dangers  that  threaten  us.  And  before  we  can  escape  or 
avoid  danger  we  must  know  what  and  where  it  is. 

Dr.  Ruemelin  distinctly  says  that  the  statesman  individu- 
ally owes  allegiance  to  the  moral  law,  but  not  in  his  public 
character.  In  other  words  his  politics  need  not  be  regulated 
by  an  ethical  standard.  This  looks  to  me  like  a  dangerous 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  267 

doctrine.  How  shall  we  separate  the  man  from  his  acts? 
Do  not  a  man's  habitual  acts  constitute  his  character  ?  Can 
a  man  in  public  office  distinguish  between  his  actions  and 
say  of  the  one,  This  I  do  in  my  representative  capacity  and 
this  as  a  private  individual  ?  In  the  one  case  I  always  tell 
the  truth  and  keep  my  word;  in  the  other,  only  when  I 
think  it  expedient.  We  sometimes  find  men  who  are  mor- 
ally weak  exhibiting  great  strength  as  statesmen  both 
creative  and  reformatory.  A  man's  policy  may  be  better 
than  his  life;  just  as  a  great  writer  may  be  a  despicable 
character.  But  here  we  find  the  conditions  reversed.  Our 
author,  at  least  by  implication,  tells  us  that  a  statesman 
may  resort  to  fraud  and  falsehood,  trickery  and  deception, 
in  order  to  enchance  the  greatness  of  the  nation  for  which  he 
is  acting,  but  he  must  not  do  these  things  in  his  private  ca- 
pacity. I  grant  that  a  temporary  advantage  may  be  gained 
in  this  way,  but  I  question  its  expediency  in  the  long  run. 
The  citizen  of  a  representative  government  often  finds  him- 
self in  the  unpleasant  dilemma  of  having  to  choose  between 
a  candidate  whose  public  policy  he  endorses  and  whose  pri- 
vate character  he  detests.  To  which  shall  he  give  the  pref- 
erence— to  the  man  or  to  his  views  on  public  questions? 
There  is  hardly  any  doubt  that  in  matters  of  grave  import 
the  policy  is  to  be  preferred  rather  than  the  man;  but  there 
are  many  minor  questions  in  which  it  is  possible  to  show  a 
preference  for  the  reputable  citizen,  and  in  this  way  parties 
may  be  compelled  to  select  worthier  candidates.  Unfortu- 
nately, too,  the  voter  rarely  has  the  privilege  of  registering 
his  sentiments  on  all  questions  in  which  he  is  interested. 
So  many  issues  are  usually  involved  that  he  is  compelled  to 
strike  an  average,  yet  if  he  can  not  in  all  cases  make  choice 
of  what  he  regards  best  he  can  at  least  enter  his  protest 
against  the  largest  number  of  evils. 


268  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

What  has  been  the  practical  effect  of  the  policy  that  the 
ruler  or  the  statesman  is  not  subject  to  the  moral  law  ?  Al- 
ways and  everywhere  pernicious  in  the  extreme.  What  is, 
or  at  least  ought  to  be,  the  object  for  which  all  government 
exists  ?  To  secure  justice.  On  this  point  there  is  not  likely 
to  be  any  disagreement.  It  is  hardly  correct  to  say  that 
governments  were  instituted  to  dispense  justice  among  the 
governed ;  it  is  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  governments,  or 
rather  government,  was  developed  by  a  gradual  process  be- 
cause men  could  exist  in  no  other  way.  Wherever  there 
is  collective  activity  there  must  be  organization,  there  must 
be  government.  Every  man  must  have  his  assigned  place 
and  know  the  duties  devolving  upon  him.  Boys  can't  so 
much  as  play  a  game  of  ball  without  first  coming  to  an 
agreement  as  to  the  rules  that  shall  govern  it.  These  rules 
are  the  laws  of  the  game.  Just  so  in  the  state.  Its  laws 
are  the  rules  according  to  which  men  are  required  to  regu- 
late their  conduct  in  a  political  sense;  they  define  within 
certain  limits  the  relations  that  men  sustain  to  their  fellow 
men.  There  is  no  scientific  frontier  beyond  which  statute 
law  can  not  pass.  Hence  in  some  countries  many  acts  are 
illegal  of  which  the  law-making  power  in  others  takes  no  ac- 
count. With  every  enlightened  legislator  the  supreme  prob- 
lem is  how  to  make  such  changes  in  the  laws  from  time  to 
time  as  will  best  secure  the  end  for  which  all  laws  exist:  the 
largest  liberty  of  the  individual  with  the  highest  good  of  the 
community  and  the  state  as  a  whole. 

Under  a  republican  form  of  government  laws  are  as  a 
general  thing  an  expression  of  public  opinion.  A  certain 
line  of  policy  is  often  followed  by  a  community  or  a  state 
before  it  has  been  formulated  into  a  statute.  Generally, 
however,  leaders  are  necessary  not  only  to  formulate  the 
wants  of  a  clientele,  but  to  see  that  these  wants  when  put 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  269 

into  the  form  of  laws  are  observed  by  all  who  come  under 
their  operation.  Murder  and  theft  are  everywhere  punished 
whether  there  be  a  statute  to  that  effect  or  not.  And  so  on 
through  a  long  list  of  acts. 

It  is  true  that  an  absolute  ruler  may  enact  laws  and  see 
that  they  are  enforced  that  are  in  advance  of  public  opinion, 
but  this  sort  of  rulers  has  been  rare  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  If  such  rulers  were  always  guided  by  the  moral  law 
which  commands  all  men  to  do  justly  and  to  love  mercy 
they  would  seek  only  the  good  of  their  subjects.  Generally, 
however,  they  have  sought  mere  personal  aggrandizement 
at  the  expense  of  the  governed.  It  was  by  following  such 
a  policy  that  Louis  XIV  inflicted  untold  injury  on  France. 
It  is  the  same  policy  persistently  carried  out  for  centuries 
that  has  brought  Spain  to  its  present  unhappy  condition. 
Turkey  is  wretchedly  poor,  Italy  is  little  better  off,  and 
Spain  is  on  the  verge  of  ruin  because  those  in  authority, 
those  best  able  to  bear  the  burdens  of  government  have  per- 
sistently refused  to  do  their  duty  and  have  compelled  the 
poorer  members  of  the  body  politic  to  support  a  policy  with 
the  formulating  of  which  they  had  nothing  to  do.  Auto- 
cratic rulers  are  more  likely,  as  experience  teaches,  to  be  in 
the  rear  of  public  opinion  than  in  advance  of  it.  The} 
usually  find  themselves  more  comfortable  and  more  secure 
in  maintaining  the  status  quo  than  in  yielding  to  proposed 
changes.  For  this  reason  republican  governments  are  more 
progressive,  except  in,  rare  cases,  than  monarchical.  Even 
under  the  best  monarchs,  those  who  are  ever  ready  to  ini- 
tiate progressive  measures,  there  is  always  danger  of  a  stag- 
nation. The  people  become  accustomed  to  look  to  their 
ruler  for  the  initiative,  and  when  this  is  not  forthcoming, 
there  is  no  force  to  take  its  place. 

No  one  will  deny  that  the  fundamental  law  of  the  state  is 


270  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

self-preservation.  But  is  it  more  imperative  for  the  state 
than  for  the  individual  ?  We  have  reached  a  stage  of  moral 
progress  at  least  high  enough  to  deem  more  praiseworthy 
the  individual  who  perishes  in  the  attempt  to  rescue  a  fellow 
man  than  him  who  saves  himself  at  the  sacrifice  of  every- 
body else.  In  fact  no  comparison  can  be  made  as 
to  the  moral  quality  of  the  two  acts.  To  one  is  ac- 
corded only  commendation,  to  the  other  only  blame,  if  not 
execration.  We  are  constantly  reminded  that  the  man  who 
seeks  to  build  up  his  private  business  at  the  expense  of 
everybody  else,  soon  finds  that  he  has  adopted  an  unwise 
policy.  Nations  too  have  tried  the  same  thing  again  and 
again,  always  with  disastrous  results.  It  seems  to  me  that 
if  there  be  any  difference  the  observance  of  the  moral  law 
is  even  more  important  in  the  government  of  states  than 
in  the  conduct  of  the  individual.  A  man  may  gain  riches 
and  power  by  dishonesty  and  oppression,  but  he  cannot  long 
retain  or  use  it  because  of  the  brevity  of  human  life.  But 
the  state  is  or  is  supposed  to  be  perpetual  and  it  is  a  serious 
matter  for  one  generation  to  entail  a  curse  upon  another,  by 
giving  its  energies  a  wrong  trend  or  starting  it  on  a  career 
in  which  the  rights  of  man  are  trampled  under  foot.  I  do 
not  believe  that  anybody  denies  that  there  are  such  things 
as  national  sins,  and  when  the  time  comes  for  the  Lord  of 
the  Ages  to  say  that  they  shall  be  expiated,  those  who  are 
only  negatively  guilty  by  acquiescence,  guilty  through 
blindness,  have  to  suffer  as  well  as  those  who  are  directly 
concerned.  This  was  the  thought  in  the  mind  of  Lincoln 
when  he  uttered  the  memorable  words :  "Fondly  do  we  hope, 
fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may 
speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if  God  wills  that  it  continues 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  up  by  the  bondsman's  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  unrecognized  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  271 

every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by 
another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand 
years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  'The  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.7  ?: 

With  what  singleness  of  purpose,  in  what  bitterness  of 
soul,  with  what  superhuman  prescience  the  prophets  of  old, 
the  national  conscience  of  the  Hebrew  people  warned  their 
countrymen  against  national  sins.  But  the  people  refused 
to  hear.  And  how  fearfully  have  they  expiated  their  spirit- 
ual blindness !  Well  may  wo  stand  in  reverent  awe  before 
that  God  who  holds  the  nations  of  the  earth  in  the  hollow  of 
His  hand;  before  that  mysterious  and  yet  not  always  in- 
scrutable power  not  ourselves,  that  makes  for  righteousness. 
It  was  under  the  inspiration  of  this  sublime  thought,  under 
the  shadow  of  this  awful  national  responsibility  that  'Kip- 
ling wrote  his  soul-inspiring  Recessional.  And  he  is  the 
poet  who  more  than  any  other  of  our  day  holds  with  a  strong 
and  courageous  grasp  the  contemporaneous  motives  that  we 
are  wont  to  call  practical,  even  vulgar ;  yet  amid  all  the  stir 
and  strife  of  our  busy  age  he  warns  us  that  we  are  in  danger 
of  forgetting  what  is  most  important  of  all, — our  duty  to 
one  another  and  to  the  coming  age. 

It  is  often  a  serious  matter,  sometimes  an  impossible  one, 
to  decide  when  the  law  of  self-preservation  is  wisely  ap- 
pealed to.  I  have  elsewhere  called  attention  to  the  miseries 
the  Greek  states  entailed  upon  themselves  by  their  cir- 
cumscribed patriotism.  What  were  the  citizens  of  the 
smaller  German  states  to  do  who  foresaw  the  unwisdom  of 
their  rulers  in  throwing  themselves  into  the  arms  of  Napo- 
leon ?  Were  they  to  incur  the  risk  of  being  punished  as 
traitors  for  daring  to  point  out  the  inevitable  consequences 
of  such  a  course?  Were  the  genuine  patriots  among  the 
Wurtemburgers  and  Bavarians,  those  who  took  sides  for  or 


272  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

against  Napoleon?  How  was  the  law  of  self-preservation 
to  be  applied  ?  We  have  had  similar  difficulties  to  solve.  A 
typical  case  is  furnished  by  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee.  His  pri- 
vate character  was  above  reproach,  yet  he  embraced  a  cause 
that  time  shows  more  and  more  plainly  to  have  been  counter 
to  the  moral  order  of  the  world.  He  believed  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  patriot  to  go  with  his  state,  deeming  his 
allegiance  to  her  stronger  than  to  the  Union.  He  made  a 
mistaken  application  of  the  law  of  self-preservation,  within 
the  narrow  limits  of  a  state,  and  he  left  behind  him  the 
melancholy  example  of  a  noble  man  who  waited  his  energies 
and  misused  his  talents  in  a  cause  that  was  abhorrent  to  the 
moral  sense  of  the  world. 

The  view  held  by  almost  all  writers  on  government,  until 
comparatively  recent  times,  was  that  the  powers  that  be  have 
authority  not  only  to  determine  the  rights  of  the  subject  but 
also  what  is  right  for  the  subject.  Of  course  there  have 
always  been  conflicts,  especially  when  the  individual  con- 
science was  infringed  upon.  In  all  cases  of  religious  per- 
secution this  doctrine  was  shifted  from  the  domain  of 
theory  into  the  sphere  of  practice.  But  the  theory  was 
never  given  up  and  almost  invariably  the  persecuted  became 
persecutors  in  turn  as  soon  as  they  had  the  power.  The 
doctrine  that  governments  derive  tlieir  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed,  as  a  practical, principle,  is  not  older 
than  our  Declaration  of  Independence.  Since  its  promul- 
gation there  has  been  a  constantly  growing  tendency  to 
reconcile  the  rights  of  the  individual  conscience  with  the 
functions  of  the  state.  It  is  now  generally  held  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  those  in  authority  to  make  the  government  so  good, 
the  laws  so  just  that  the  subject  will  himself  recognize  the 
fact  and  yield  willing  obedience.  The  problem  is  by  no  means 
yet  fully  solved  but  the  enlightened  nations  of  the  earth 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY,  273 

tire  devoting  much  thought  to  its  solution,  and  I  believe  we 
are  getting  nearer  the  goal  all  the  time.  It  is  customary 
to  stigmatize  as  reprehensible  at  all  times  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances the  Jesuitical  doctrine  that  the  end  justifies  the 
means,  and  that  it  is  permissible  to  do  evil  that  good  may 
come.  The  mistake  it  seems  to  me  lies,  so  far  as  the  first 
proposition  is  concerned  in  mistaking  that  for  an  end  which 
is  not.  There  is  no  end  in  organized  society.  There  is  al- 
ways something  beyond  that  which  we  may  mistake  for  an 
end.  In  reality  there  is  no  end,  and  what  we  are  apt  to  con- 
sider such  is  but  the  means  to  something  more  remote.  As 
to  the  second  proposition,  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  ever 
right  to  do  wrong.  But  there  is  a  constant  growth  and  en- 
largement of  the  public  as  of  the  individual  conscience.  The 
child  and  the  youth  may  perform  acts  with  a  clear  con- 
science that  maturer  years  will  condemn.  And  so  we  find 
governments  legalizing  acts  or  conniving  at  them  which  in 
a  more  enlightened  age  it  repudiates  and  condemns.  Not 
do  I  see  any  reason  for  believing  that  might  ever  makes 
right,  but  we  often  use  the  term  right  where  it  has  no  place 
and  where  rights  is  the  proper  word.  It  often  happens, 
however,  that  there  is  might  in  right  and  those  who  are 
crushed  by  force  imagine  that  they  have  been  wronged. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  public  opinion  has  a  good  deal  of 
influence  on  the  development  of  the  moral  sentiments ;  not 
a  public  opinion  based  on  ignorance  or  sentiment  or  a  pass- 
ing fancy,  but  on  knowledge  and  enlightenment.  He  who 
is  too  high  or  too  low  to  be  influenced  "by  it  is  commonly  a 
dangerous  or  a  despicable  character.  The  one  extreme  is 
represented  by  the  autocrat,  the  other  by  the  tramp.  The 
chief  reason  why  the  so-called  '"bloated  bondholder"  is  hated 
or  despised  is  because  as  the  representative  of  a  class,  he 

18 


274  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

cares  little  for  public  opinion.  Owing  to  his  secure  finan- 
cial position  he  is  indifferent  to  public  opinion.  Unfor- 
tunate is  the  state  of  that  individual  whose  mind  can  con- 
ceive or  whose  lips  can  utter  the  thought,  "I  don't  care 
what  other  people  think  of  me." 

The  world  will  never  cease  to  admire  the  man  who  fear- 
lessly does  his  duty  as  he  understands  it.  No  matter  how 
lowly  his  condition,  no  matter  how  circumscribed  the  sphere 
of  his  activity,  if  he  enters  upon  a  difficult  task  or  faces  a 
great  danger  because  he  feels  that  he  ought  to  do  so,  the 
world  will  not  withhold  from  him  its  admiration. 

"I  slept  and  dreamed  that  life  was  Beauty ; 
I  woke  and  found  that  life  was  Duty ; — 
Was  that  dream  a  shadowy  lie  ?" 

Assuredly  neither  one  or  the  other ;  but  the  thought  that 
came  to  the  poet  in  his  waking  hour  was  the  sublimer  of  the 
two.  When  we  consider  how  much  the  welfare  of  the  indi- 
vidual is  bound  up  with  the  welfare  of  the  state  we  can 
easily  see  how  the  larger  duty  often  included  the  less  and  is 
in  harmony  with  it.  To  make  the  harmony  as  nearly  per- 
fect as  possible  is  the  first  obligation  of  every  enlightened 
government. 

Every  community,  and  in  a  large  measure  every  common- 
wealth contains  a  certain  number  of  members  who  have  no 
ideals.  Their  conception  of  duty  is  exceedingly  circum- 
scribed and  they  can  be  kept  from  preying  on  society  only 
by  the  fear  or  the  force  of  the  strong  arm  of  the  law. 
Neither  is  it  wise  under  all  circumstances  to  press  too 
closely  the  theory  that  a  good  government  derives  its  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.  A  good  govern- 
ment can  never  receive  the  consent  of  all  the  governed, 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  275 

often  not  of  a  majority.  The  subject  whose  pernicious 
activity  is  circumscribed  by  such  a  rule  will  stigmatize  it  as 
tyranny,  yet  if  it  is  just  in  principle  and  justly  administered 
it  will  in  the  course  of  events  be  its  own  best  justification. 
But  the  rational  man,  the  good  citizen,  does  not  need  the 
restraint  of  the  law.  He  is  a  law  to  himself  both  as  to  what 
he  ought  to  do  and  as  to  what  he  ought  not  to  do.  Under 
a  wise  government  there  will  not  be  and  there  certainly 
ought  not  to  be  a  clash  between  our  duty  as  citizens  and  our 
duty  as  individuals.  This  is  the  goal  toward  which  all  gov- 
ernments tend, — at  least  all  enlightened  governments.  I 
believe  it  is  a  mistake  to  lay  too  much  stress  on  those  ex- 
amples of  personal  bravery  that  are  now  and  then  brought 
out  conspicuously  by  the  exigencies  of  war.  The  man  who 
has  the  courage  to  do  his  duty  at  the  risk  of  his  life  would, 
often  do  it  under  any  circumstances.  The  innate  no- 
bility of  such  a  nature  has  merely  found  a  larger  place  in 
which  to  display  itself.  Sometimes  the  thought  that  he  is 
in  the  public  eye  and  that  an  act  of  heroism  will  win  uni- 
versal applause  may  spur  a  man  to  a  brave  deed  who  would 
prove  to  be  a  coward  in  a  less  conspicuous  position.  It  may 
require  less  bravery  to  die  for  a  cause  than  to  live  for  it. 
Experience  proves  that  the  spectacular  hero  is  often  morally 
a  weaker  character  than  the  man  who  in  an  obscure  place 
takes  up  his  duty  daily  and  discharges  it  to  the  best  of  his 
ability.  "  'Tis  not  dying  for  one's  country  that  is  hard ; 
'tis  living  for  it,  Harry."  If  there  is  no  patriotism  except 
in  facing  shot  and  shell  the  lot  of  most  young  men  now  liv- 
ing is  an  unfortunate  one.  They  might  have  had  the  best 
intention  to  do  so,  but  there  has  been  no  opportunity  for 
them  to  exhibit  their  physical  courage  on  the  field  of  battle. 
As  wars  become  fewer  there  will  be  a  constantly  diminish- 
ing need  of  men  whose  chief  recommendation  is  their  fight- 


276  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

ing  qualities.  Nevertheless,  those  who  would  deserve  well 
of  their  country  have  none  the  fewer  opportunities  for  serv- 
ing her  efficiently,  though  it  may  not  be  in  so  conspicuous  a 
way.  And  it  is  this  sort  of  men  which  the  world  most 
needs.  I  repeat,  there  should  be  no  conflict  between  public 
and  private  duties.  In  many  cases  they  have  nothing  to  do 
with  each  other;  in  others  they  mutually  support  and 
strengthen  one  another. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  a  condition  of  things  where  a 
ruler  conscientiously  inflicts  great  damage  upon  his  subjects 
and  where  the  conscience  of  the  subject  is  outraged  by 
obedience  to  law  ?  Shall  the  latter  acquiesce  in  what  he  be- 
lieves to  be  wrong  ?  Is  there  a  reconciliation  between  two 
diametrically  opposite  principles?  There  is  not.  The 
sovereign  and  the  subject  take  their  own  risk  in  deciding 
what  course  they  shall  adopt.  Philip  II  of  Spain,  thought 
he  was  doing  God  a  service  when  he  undertook  to  stamp  out 
heresy  in  his  domains ;  but  time  has  shown  that  his  policy 
was  a  fearful  mistake.  The  same  mistake  has  often  been 
repeated  before  and  since.  It  is  as  plain  as  day  that  if  men 
were  wise  there  would  at  once  be  a  universal  disarmament. 

If  you  were  to  ask  me  what  I  think  of  the  morality  of 
party  contests  I  should  say  that  in  many  cases  they  do  not 
come  within  the  domain  of  morals  at  all.  Of  course  faith 
should  be  kept  in  such  matters  as  in  any  other,  but  as  to  the 
questions  at  issue  they  usually  mean  little  more  than  a 
struggle  for  office.  If  men  are  willing  to  risk  their  money  in 
such  a  game,  they  take  the  consequences.  I  do  not  know 
whether  the  venality  of  voters  is  greater  now  than  ever  be- 
fore, or  corruption  more  common,  though  I  am  strongly  in- 
clined to  doubt  it.  If  we  are  moving  on  a  downward  plane, 
it  may  be  that  nothing  short  of  bitter  experience  will  stop 
us.  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  now  or  ever  has  been  a 


&HE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  277 

government  without  some  corruption.  There  have  always 
been  men,  and  there  will  always  be,  with  whom  the  only 
motive  that  has  any  weight  is  a  personal  one.  And  of  this 
class  of  men  there  is  always  a  larger  or  smaller  number  in 
every  legislative  body.  All  governments  are  more  or  less 
of  an  experiment.  In  the  history  of  the  world  but  one  has 
lasted  as  long  as  eight  or  nine  centuries  without  undergoing 
violent  and  radical  changes.  We  have  done  fairly  well  for 
a  little  more  than  one  century ;  what  our  future  shall  be  de- 
pends somewhat  upon  the  form  of  our  government,  but  far 
more  depends  upon  the  intelligence  and  genuine  patriotism 
of  our  citizens. 

That  the  law  of  self-preservation  should  determine  the 
conduct  of  the  citizen  as  such  is  a  doctrine  that  runs  counter 
to  the  lesson  of  history.  If  it  had  prevailed  it  would  have 
rendered  impossible  the  unification  of  all  the  larger  empires 
of  modern  times.  It  would  cut  up  the  map  of  the  world 
into  an  almost  countless  number  of  little  more  or  less  inde- 
pendent sovereignties.  Whether  the  law  of  self-preserva- 
tion is  wise  must  be  determined  by  other  considerations, — 
not  so  much  by  what  is  right  as  by  what  is  expedient  and 
wise.  Neither  will  the  good  citizen  be  ruled  by  such  a  shib- 
boleth as,  "my  country,  whether  right  or  wrong."  He  will 
scrutinize  carefully  what  is  meant  by  "country"  in  this 
sense.  He  will  not  be  misled  by  a  mere  party  cry  to  en- 
dorse a  policy  which  his  judgment  disapproves.  If  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  national  conscience  it  exists  solely  because 
the  majority  hold  like  views  as  to  what  is  right  and  what  is 
wrong.  If  the  national  conscience  is  perverted  it  is  the 
duty  of  those  who  are  most  foresighted  to  set  it  right.  If 
enlightenment  does  not  clarify  the  motives  of  a  people  the 
less  we  have  of  it  the  better.  No  intelligent  man  will  offer  the 
lame  excuse  for  doing  what  he  holds  to  be  wrong,  that  the 


278  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

majority  wishes  it.  Individual  judgment  must  always  be 
the  final  arbiter  in  matters  of  conduct.  Almost  all  moral 
reforms  have  in  their  inception  been  advanced  by  a  minor- 
ity. How  many  men  posterity  honors  who  identified  them- 
selves with  a  cause  that  was  lost  for  the  time  being !  The 
doctrine  that  a  man  may  do  in  his  official  capacity  what  his 
judgment  condemns  is  a  dangerous  doctrine.  It  is  espec- 
ially dangerous  in  a  republic  where  so  large  a  proportion 
of  the  citizens  are  called  upon  from  time  to  time  to  hold 
public  office.  We  shall  probably  always  have  among  us  a 
large  number  of  persons  who  mistake  the  success  of  party 
for  the  welfare  of  the  country.  It  is  these  who  are  peren- 
nially in  favor  of  the  flag  and  an  appropriation.  It  is  this 
class  of  men  that  Dr.  Johnson  had  in  mind  when  he  defined 
patriotism  as  the  last  refuge  of  a  scoundrel.  When  their 
private  interests  were  menaced  they  cried  out  that  the  coun- 
try was  in  danger.  Treason  and  criticism  of  the  party  in 
power  are  two  widely  different  things,  though  they  have 
often  been  confounded,  sometimes  ignorantly,  sometimes 
purposely. 

Not  only  has  it  been  the  doctrine  of  those  who  directed 
the  governments  of  the  world  that  the  great  majority  of  the 
subjects  never  outgrow  their  tutelage,  that  they  rarely  dis- 
cern with  any  degree  of  clearness  what  is  for  their  true  in- 
terest, and  that,  therefore,  certain  more  highly  endowed  or 
divinely  commissioned  persons  must  decide  this  question 
and  guide  them  as  to  how  it  shall  be  attained,  but  nearly  all 
writers  upon  government  have  maintained  it  in  theory.  Yet 
it  is  everywhere  dead  or  dying.  The  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  the  first  clear  disavowal  of  the  doctrine  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  Colonies  did  not  themselves  fully  ap- 
prehend the  weighty  significance  of  the  step  they  then  took. 
The  political  development  of  most  of  the  European  states 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  279 

during  the  present  century  has  been  along  lines  then  mark- 
ed out.  In  other  words,  it  has  come  to  be  a  recognized 
principle  of  statecraft  that  in  the  main  governments  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.  In 
practice  the  theory  can  not  be  consistently  carried  out  for  it 
is  impossible  to  secure  unanimity  on  many  of  the  problems 
that  must  be  decided  in  order  to  make  a  viable  government. 
Institutional  life  will  always  necessitate  many  compromises. 
But  most  governments  no  longer  undertake  to  decide  polit- 
ical questions  without  consulting  the  body  of  the  citizens. 
They  are  putting  more  and  more  faith  in  the  potency  of 
reason  and  less  in  coercion.  It  is  the  essence  of  democracy 
that  the  minority,  no  matter  how  large,  shall  learn  to  sub- 
mit to  the  majority  for  the  time  being,  no  matter  how  dis- 
tasteful. It  is  because  some  of  the  Spanish- American  states 
have  not  learned  this  lesson  that  they  are  in  the  chronic 
throes  of  revolution. 

If  intelligent  patriotism  can  be  taught, — and  who  doubts 
it? — it  must  be  done  by  enabling  every  citizen  to  express 
with  the  ballot,  an  intelligent  opinion,  on  every  question  of 
public  interest.  The  greatest  good  of  the  commonwealth  is 
best  secured  by  promoting  the  interest  of  the  largest  number 
of  individuals.  While  the  duty  of  the  citizen  and  that  of  the 
private  man  are  not  always  identical  they  ought  not  to  con- 
flict. It  is  hard  to  see  wherein  the  good  citizen  differs 
from  the  good  man  and  vice  versa. 

I  give  here  the  closing  paragraph  of  the  translation  refer- 
red to  on  p.  260,  for  while  some  of  the  passages  are  intended 
to  have  a  special  application,  they  also  embody  general 
truths.  "On  the  other  hand,  we  can  hardly  fail  to  notice  in 
the  management  of  public  affairs  an  increasing  tendency  to- 
ward nobler  ends.  In  the  eighteenth  century  politics  consist- 
ed mainly  of  cabinet  intrigues,  mutual  espionage  and  plot- 


280  W2SDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

ting,  the  corruption  of  valets  and  court  ladies ;  all  these  were 
important  functions  of  a  diplomat.  To  grab  and  traffic  in 
territory,  to  quarrel  about  rank  and  power,  seemed  to  be  the 
content  of  diplomatic  science;  the  only  regard  paid  to  the 
welfare  of  the  people  was  in  the  choice  of  language  and  in 
the  multiplication  of  meaningless  phrases.  It  is  one  of  the 
blessings  of  modern  free  institutions  that  the  fate  of  na- 
tions is  no  longer  discussed  and  decided  exclusively  in  the 
cabinets  and  antechambers  of  princes,  but  in  the  public  de- 
liberations of  the  representatives  of  the  people.  Plans  that 
shun  the  light  of  publicity  have  become,  not  indeed  impos- 
sible, but  decidedly  more  difficult  of  execution.  Since  two 
of  the  great  civilized  nations  of  Europe  have  passed  from  a 
condition  of  wretched  dismemberment  to  that  of  national 
unity,  the  true  and  natural  boundaries  of  the  European 
family  of  nations  have  been  found  and  established  in  their 
essential  outlines.  Universal  military  service  renders  wars 
impossible  which  are  not  recognized  by  the  people  them- 
selves as  just  and  inevitable.  Wars  themselves  are  of 
shorter  duration  and  more  humane  in  conduct.  The  most 
recent  progress  in  humane  methods  of  warfare  has  emana- 
ted from  the  very  state  which  not  more  than  one  hundred 
years  ago  caused  its  own  soldiers  to  be  thrown  alive  into  a 
moat  in  order  that  the  storming  party  might  pass  over  their 
bodies  as  over  a  bridge.  History  has  given  to  the  German 
people,  now  powerful  enough  not  to  covet  the  property  of 
its  neighbors,  and  yet  able  to  maintain  its  own  possessions 
against  all  the  world,  the  mission  of  founding  an  empire  of 
peace  in  the  center  of  the  European  continent —  a  state 
whose  politics  should  seek  simply  to  promote  prosperity, 
liberty  and  civilization.  We  have  been  fortunate  enough  to 
behold  and  enjoy  the  fruition  of  a  policy  which  need  not 
shrink  from  comparison  with  the  highest  standards  of  his- 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  281 

tory.  For  the  second  time  in  the  course  of  the  century, 
out  of  the  distress  and  confusion  of  the  moment,  there  has 
arisen  to  us  a  man,— the  embodiment  of  justice  and  power. 
But  the  fundamental  basis  of  international  ethics  is  the 
moral  sense  of  the  people  themselves.  If  the  German  peo- 
ple shall  maintain  the  preponderance  of  its  love  of  ideals 
over  the  mere  lust  for  gain  and  enjoyment,  over  indifference 
to  the  common  welfare,  and  over  narrow  prejudice, — only 
in  that  case  can  the  politics  of  the  empire,  henceforth  based 
on  universal  suffrage,  be  administered  in  a  similar  spirit. 
The  morality  of  a  people  and  that  of  its  statesmen  go  hand 
in  hand.  Only  by  accident  will  the  standard  of  morality  in 
the  government  of  a  free  people  be  higher  than  that  of  the 
governed.  And  only  in  the  ever  continuous  process  of 
action  and  reaction  between  both  may  be  found  the  ultimate 
solution  of  the  problem  discussed  in  this  address."  Most  of 
this  quotation  has  not  only  the  true  ring  but  likewise  a  re- 
markably home-like  look.  Evidently  the  upright  citizen  of 
an  autocratic  state  regards  his  political  relations  very  much 
in  the  same  way  that  the  citizen  of  a  representative  republic 
regards  his.  He  may  talk  less  and  work  in  a  more  circum- 
scribed sphere  of  political  activity,  but  he  does  not  therefore 
necessarily  think  less.  It  may  be  too  that  when  he  opens 
his  mouth  or  takes  up  his  pen,  he  gives  expression  to  ideas 
that  are  more  to  the  purpose  than  most  people  do  where 
words  are  so  cheap.  The  cure  for  political  corruption  as 
well  as  for  a  mistaken  public  policy  is  to  be  effected  by  en- 
lightenment, not  by  intelligence  alone.  The  progress  of  en- 
lightenment is  rapidly  bringing  about  a  condition  of  affairs 
when  there  will  no  longer  be  a  wide  chasm  between  the 
morality  of  the  individual  and  what,  for  want  of  a  better 
designation,  we  call  the  morality  of  the  state.  When 
Charles  the  First,  was  debating  with  himself  the  question 


282  WISDOM  AND  WILL  IN  EDUCATION. 

whether  he  should  keep  or  break  the  promise  he  had  made 
to  Wentworth  ( Straff ord)  to  save  him  from  his  enemies, 
the  bishops  succeeded  in  making  him  believe  that  he  had 
a  public  and  a  private  conscience,  as  he  was  both  a  king  and 
a  man.  They  assured  him  that  his  pledge  to  his  unfortu- 
nate minister  was  given  in  his  private  capacity,  but  that  in 
signing  h*s  death-warrant  he  was  doing  so  as  king.  We 
hardly  know  whether  to  denounce  most  vigorously  the 
abominable  casuistry  of  bishop  or  politician,  for  both  were 
united  in  the  same  persons ;  but  we  may  be  quite  sure  that 
no  man  or  group  of  men  would  in  our  day  resort  to  such  a 
contemptible  subterfuge.  Unfortunately,  it  can  not  be 
denied  that  we  see  a  good  deal  of  similar  conduct  in  a  small 
way. 

To  the  progress  of  enlightenment  the  teaching  profession 
has  it  in  its  power  to  make  the  largest  contribution.  Every 
teacher  worthy  of  the  name  is  more  or  less  of  a  reformer. 
It  is  not  only  his  prerogative,  but  his  duty  to  be  so.  If  his 
influence  is  not  uplifting,  if  he  does  not  contribute  some- 
thing toward  making  all  forms  of  meanness  a  little  more 
unpopular,  if  he  is  content  to  drift  with  the  current  of 
popular  favor,  or  if  he  makes  it  a  part  of  his  business  to 
find  the  lines  of  least  resistance,  he  has  sadly  missed  his 
calling.  On  the  other  hand  he  needs  to  be  on  his  guard 
against  taking  a  mere  idiosyncrasy,  a  mere  personal  whim 
or  opinion  for  a  principle.  Those  who  differ  with  him  may 
be  just  as  upright  and  just  as  patriotic  as  he.  "My  way" 
is  not  necessarily  the  best  way  or  the  only  way  that  leads 
to  the  goal.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  wise  man  seeks  mar- 
tyrdom, but  if  martyrdom  finds  him  in  the  performance  of 
his  duty  he  must  not  shrink  from  it.  There  are  times  and 
occasions  when  he  must  take  a  stand,  cost  what  it  may. 
Temporary  detriment  to  mind  or  body  or  estate  is  not  too 


THE  RELATION  OF  PRIVATE  TO  PUBLIC  MORALITY.  283 

high  a  price  to  pay  for  the  truth  and  the  right.  In  the 
end  he  will  not  only  lose  nothing  but  assuredly  gain  much. 
It  would  be  a  grand  consummation  if  such  an  esprit  de 
corps  could  be  engendered  among  teachers  as  to  make  the 
public  fully  aware  that  none  of  them  could  be  induced  to 
take  the  place  of  one  who  had  been  dismissed  for  any  cause 
except  proved  inefficiency  or  immorality.  It  is  safe  to  assume 
that  such  a  condition  of  things  is  nearer  than  the  time  when 
employers  shall  have  ceased  to  seek  places  for  the  in- 
competent, except  in  their  own  business.  The  poor  and  the 
inefficient  we  shall  always  have  with  us  and  so  we  shall  al- 
ways have  the  problem  of  providing  for  those  who  are  un- 
able to  provide  for  themselves. 


THE  END. 


R.  L.  Myers  &  Company's 

EDUCATIONAL  PUBLICATIONS 


R.  L  MYERS  &  CO.,   PUBLISHERS 

COR.  FRONT  AND  MARKET  STREETS,  HARRISBURG,  PA. 


.  L.  MYERS  &  CO.'S 


SCHOOL  ALGEBRAS 

By  FUJTCHER  DUREU,,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  and 
EDWARD  R.  ROBBINS,  A.B. 

Mathematical  Masters,  the  Lawrenceville  School,  Lawrenceville  ,  N.  ./. 

These  books  are  remarkable,  both  for  the  originality  in  the 
development  of  the  subject  and  for  the  wonderful  skill  in  pre- 
paring, adapting,  and  grading  a  large  number  of  examples  and 
review  exercises.  While  seeking  to  develop  the  theory  of  the 
subject  in  a  manner  entirely  new  in  school  algebras  of  to-day, 
the  authors  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  best  current  practices 
of  teachers  in  other  respects. 


A     GRAMMAR     SCHOOL     ALGEBRA. 

pages.     Half  leather.     80  cents. 
This  volume  closes  with  the  subject  of  Radicals.     It  is 
intended  to  contain  only  so  much  of  the  subject  of  Algebra  as 
pupils  in  Grammar  Schools  are  likely  to  study. 

A     SCHOOL     ALGEBRA.      336-hxxxviii    pages.       Half 

leather.     $1.00. 

This  volume  covers  the  requirements  of  admission  to  the 
Classical  Course  of  Colleges,  as  agreed  upon  at  the  conference 
between  the  representatives  of  leading  Colleges  and  Prepara- 
tory Schools. 

A  SCHOOL  ALGEBRA  COMPLETE.    4i6+xlvii  pages. 

Half  leather.     $1.25. 

This  book  contains,  in  addition  to  the  subjects  usually 
treated  in  a  School  Algebra,  the  more  advanced  subjects  required 
(1902)  for  admission  to  Universities  and  Scientific  Schools,  to 
wit:  Permutations  and  Combinations,  Undetermined  Coeffi- 
cients, the  Binominal  Theorem,  Continued  Fractions,  Loga- 
rithms, etc.  This  Algebra  contains  a  chanter  on  the  "History 
of  Elementary  Algebra,"  the  first  of  its  kind  published  in 
America. 

Points  of  Superiority  Peculiar  to  the  Durell  &  Bobbins 
School  Algebras 

1.  The  general  theory,  which  makes  evident  to  the  pupil 
that  new  symbols  and  processes  are  introduced,  not  arbitrarily 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  economy  or  new  power  which  is  gained 
by  their  use.    This  treatment  of  Algebra  is  better  adapted  to 
the  practical  American  spirit,  and  gives  the  study  of  the  subject 
a  larger  educational  value. 

2.  Clear  and  simple  presentation  of  first  principles.     Bright 
girls  of  ten  years  read  the  first  chapter  ;  and  with  very  little 
explanation  on  a  few  points  of  secondary  importance,  they 
understand  the  chapter  clearly  on  first  reading. 


SCHOOL  ALGEBRAS 

3.  Abundance  of  practice:  (i)  About  4,000  problems  and 
examples  in  the  complete  book — nearly  i  ,000  more  than  in  any 
other  book  of  similar  grade.  Compare  any  chapter  with  corres- 
ponding chapter  in  other  leading  books.  (2)  Every  exercise 
well  graded ;  easy  examples  first ;  hardest  examples  last ;  work 
may  be  limited  with  any  problem.  (3)  The  problems  are  all 
sensible;  no  "catch,"  unusual,  or  bizarre  examples,  which 
have  no  place  in  a  text-book. 

The  Durell  &  Robbins  School  Algebras  are  superior  not  only 
in  the  development  of  the  theory  and  in  the  number  and  char- 
acter of  the  exercises — the  main  points  to  be  considered  in 
determining  the  strength  of  a  text-bock  on  Algebra— but  also 
in  modern  methods,  new  treatment  of  subjects,  systematic 
grouping  of  kindred  processes,  early  introduction  of  substitu- 
tion, emphasis  placed  upon  verification  of  equations,  concise 
definitions,  clear  arid  specific  explanations,  tactful  omissions 
of  a  number  of  answers,  frequent  reviews,  superior  typog- 
raphy. 

The  success  of  these  books  is  likely  unprecedented.  They 
have  already  secured  for  themselves,  without  any  agency  work 
except  in  Pennsylvania,  adoptions  in  the  foremost  schools  in 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Massachusetts,  Maine, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  South  Dakota,  California, 
Texas,  Oklahoma,  Georgia,  Tennessee,  West  Virginia  and 
Maryland. 


Extracts  from  Letters  by  Superintendents,  Principals,  and  Teachers 
of  Schools  in  Which  the  Books  Are  TJsed 


W.  F.  SLATON,  City  Superin- 
tendent, Atlanta,  Ga.— The  Durell 
&  Robbins  Grammar  School 
Algebra  is  admirably  suited  to  the 
advanced  grades  of  grammar 
schools  and  to  the  lower  grades  of 
high  schools.  lu  my  judgment, 
factoring  cannot  be  better  {aught 
than  it  is  done  in  this  book. 

THOMAS  A.  BLACKFORD,  Com- 
man^ant  of  Cadets,  Cheltenham 
Military  Academy,  Ogontz,  Pa. — 
The  authors  of  the  Durell  &  Rob- 
bins  School  Algebra  have  certainly 
accomplished  their  purpose,  to 
simplify  principles  and  to  make 
them  attractive.  I  know  of  no 
book  that  I  would  stronger  recom- 
mend for  adoption. 

GEORGE  GILBERT,  Principal 
Chester  Academv,  Chester,  Pa.— I 
am  pleased  with  the  book  under 
the  test  of  the  school-room.  *It  is 
certainly  gotten  up  on  the  right 
plan.  *  *  *  it  must  be  a  favorite 
with  teachers. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  JOURNAL 
OF  EDUCATION,  A.  E.  Winship, 
Editor,  Boston  .—The  I,awrenceville 
School,  lyawrenceville,  N.  J.,  is  one 
of  the  foremost  secondary  institu- 
tions in  the  country,  and  Messrs. 
Myers  &  Co.  have  made  "a  great 
hit,"  in  the  language  of  the  hour, 
iu  securing  the  mathematical  spe- 
cialists of  that  institution  for  the 
preparation  of  such  a  series  of  books 
as  these  prove  to  be.  The  books  are 
attracting  much  attention. 

CHARLES  F.  HARPER,  Princi- 
pal Public  High  School,  New  Brit- 
ain, Conn.—*  *  *  A  first-class 
binding ;  excellent  type  ;  carefully 
chosen,  progressive  graded  prob- 
lems; clearly  stated  rules;  easy 
explanations;  and  an  abundance 
of  varied  examples,  both  for  daily 
studies  and  reviews. 

SISTER  M.  FLARIA,  Directress 
St.  Peter's  Academy,  Columbia, 
Pa.— It  is  the  most  complete  work 
in  Algebra  I  have  yet  seeoi. 


R.  L.   MYERS  &   CO:S 


DR.  M.  R.  ALEXANDER,  Prin- 
cipal Chambersburg  Academy, 
Chambersburg,  Pa. — The  Durell  & 
Robbins  School  Algebra  is  a  most 
excellent  work,  both  in  design  and 
execution.  I  am  sure  it  will  attain 
great  success. 

F.  P.  MATZ,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D.,  Irv- 
ing Female  College,  Mechanics- 
burg,  Pa.— Since  the  School  Alge- 
bra has  drawn  heavily  upon  the 
excellent  works  on  Algebra  by  Hall 
&  Knight,  the  book  is  the  more 
highly  to  be  commended.  Taken 
all  in  all,  there  is  no  better  School 
Algebra  published  than  the  one  by 
Durell  &  Robbins.  [Dr.  Matz  has 
for  a  number  of  years  been  editor 
of  the  Mathematical  Department 
in  the  New  England  Journal  of 
Education.] 

L.  W.  HOFFMAN,  Principal 
Warwick  Institute,  Warwick,  N. 
y. — *  *  *  Its  equations,  notes  on 
special  methods,  and  the  number 
and  variety  of  the  problems  give 
the  book  an  especially  pleasing 
face,  and  will  do  much  to  awake 
and  retain  interest  in  a  class  of 
boys.  The  evident  idea  which 
the  authors  have  kept  before  them- 
selves has  been  that  of  mastery. 

PROF.     JOHN     T.     DUFFIELD, 

Princeton  University. — I  have  had 
some  occasion  to  examine  the 
work,  as  it  has  been  used  by  my 
grandson  since  he  entered  I,aw- 
renceville.  It  gives  me  pleasure  to 
express  iny  highest  appreciation  of 
its  merits.  Its  concise  and  accu- 
rate definitions,  its  tactful  presen- 
tation of  processes,  its  judicious 
selection  and  arrangement  of 
examples  and  its  avoidance  of 
superfluous  explanations,  all  show 
it  to  be  the  work  of  teachers  of 
experience,  of  scholarship,  and  of 
good  common  sense.  I  congratu- 
late the  authors  on  having  ren- 
dered a  valuable  service  to  mathe- 
matical science,  and  one  that  will 
reflect  honor  on  their  institution 
and  their  Alma  Mater. 

PROF.  IRA  B.  PEAVY,  Depart- 
ment of  Mathematics,  State  Nor- 
mal School,  Edinboro,  Pa. — After 
having  tested  the  Durell  &  Robbins 
Complete  School  Algebra  in  all 
of  our  classes,  for  one  year,  it  gives 
me  pleasure  to  testify  to  its  merits. 
The  authors  have  done  what  so  few 
are  able  to  do— written  a  book  that 
is  eminently  practical,  scientific, 
attractive  and  strictly  up-to-date. 


PROF.  MARTIN  BAHLER,  Prin- 
cipal Orange  Schools,  Orange, 
New  Jersey. — I  am  using  the  Durell 
Algebra  in  my  classes  and  do  not 
expect  to  use  any  other  for  a  long 
time  to  come.  It  is  superior  to  any 
other  book  of  the  kind  that  has 
come  to  my  notice. 

W.  M.  SWINGEL,  Ph.D.,  Prin- 
cipal, Rahway,  N.  J. — The  princi- 
pals are  stated  in  a  clear  and  for- 
cible manner,  and  the  application 
is  made  in  a  way  to  be  easily  under- 
stood by  the  beginner.  It  is  one  of 
the  best  of  elementary  Algebras. 

D.  G.  ESCHBACH,  B.S.,  Prin- 
cipal High  School,  Vineland,  New 
Jersey. — I  especially  commend  the 
clear  and  explicit  statements  in 
introducing  new  subjects  and  the 
progressive  and  accumulative 
arrangement  of  the  problems.  I 
have  used  the  book  in  factoring 
with  one  class  and  in  radicals  with 
another,  and  have  secured  excel- 
lent results.  I  think  you  have 
made  a  hit,  and  predict  a  large  sale 
for  the  book. 

DR.  ROBERT  J.  ALEY,  Professor 
of  Mathematics,  Indiana  Univer- 
sity, Bloomington,  Indiana. — The 
Durell  &  Robbins  School  Algebra 
is  remarkable  for  its  clearness,  and 
for  the  attractive  form  in  which 
the  various  subjects  are  presented. 
For  the  student,  it  is  certainly  an 
interesting  book,  and  for  the 
teacher  a  suggestive  one.  Dr. 
Durell  is  also  author  of  "  A  New 
Ivife  in  Education,"  one  of  the  very 
best  books  on  pedagogy  of  recent 
years.  (In  the  Inland  Educator, 
May,  1898). 

PROF.  MARK  MOFFETT,  Super- 
intendent Schools,  Waveland, 
Indiana. — We  are  using  the  Durell 
&  Robbins  School  Algebra  in  the 
first  year  of  our  high  school  with 
marked  success.  It  contains  an 
admirable  selection  of  problems, 
serving  pupils  of  that  grade  best 
of  all  books  I  have  used,  both  in 
variety  and  number,  while  general 
principals  and  other  matters  have 
been  discussed  as  fully  as  can  be 
understood  without  the  teacher's 
direction.  The  authors  have  had 
the  rare  good  sense  of  stopping 
when  enough  discussion  has  been 
given.  No  unreasonable  elabora- 
tions are  to  be  found,  which  in 
some  books  often  dishearten  the 
pupil. 


SCHOOL  ALGEBRAS 


PROF.     H.    R.    HIGLEY,    A.M., 

Department  of  Mathematics,  State 
Normal  School,  East  Stroudsburg , 
fa.— We  have  used  the  Durell  & 
Robbins  School  Algebra  Complete 
in  our  classes  during  the  past  year, 


DR.  FLETCHER  DURELL. 


and  expect  to  use  it  for  years  to 
come.  The  book  is  just  what  the 
practical  teacher  should  have. 
Our  pupils  were  never  so  well  pre- 
pared t-s  they  have  been  since  we 
use  this  book. 

THE     EDUCATIONAL    FORUM, 

The  Auditorium,  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois.— The  subject  of  Algebra  has 
in  this  book  (Durell  &  Robbins 
Grammar  School  Algebra)  been 
simplified,  and  the  practical  reason 
for  each  step  is  given  in  such  a 
plain  common-sense  way  that  alge- 
bra is  made  far  more  attractive 
than  by  any  previous  text-book. 
*  *  *  This  method  is  extremely 
practical,  and  adds  materially  to 
the  interest  of  the  pupil. 

WILLIAM  J.  BOONE,  President, 
The  College  of  Idaho,  Caldwell, 
Idaho,— The  Durell  &  Robbins 
School  Algebra  presents  the  subject 
in  the  liveliest,  clearest  and  most 
forceful  manner.  I  am  acquainted 
with  about  two  dozen  texts  on 
elementary  Algebra  ;  but  I  con- 
sider Durell  &  Robbing  the  best« 


W.  W.  RUPERT,  City  Superin- 
tendent, Pottsiown,  Pa.— The  book 
is,  indeed,  an  excellent  one ;  writ- 
ten, evidently,  by  men  who  are 
both  mathematicians  and  first- 
class  teachers. 

DR.  D.  C.  MURPHY,  Superin- 
tendent Training  Department, 
State  Normal  School,  Slippery 
Rock,  Pa.— We  are  using  the  Durell 
&  Robbins  Algebras  in  both  the 
training  department  and  the  nor- 
mal department  of  this  institution. 
These  books  are  superior  and  are 
better  than  their  publishers  repre- 
sent them  to  be. 

SUPT.  ISAAC  FREEMAN  HALL, 

City  of  North  Adams,  Massachu- 
setts.—-The  Durell  &  Robbins  Gram- 
mar School  Algebra  leads  the  pupil 
naturally,  not  arbitrarily,  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown.  It  is 
planned  to  give  power  (dynamic 
rather  than  mechanical)  to  the 
student.  It  is  superior  in  the  selec- 
tion and  grading  of  problems. 

DR.  L.  C.  BOTKIN,  President 
Hoard  of  Education,  Burgetts- 
town,  /fc.— Permit  me  to  add  my 
feeble  voice  to  the  praises  of  these 
Algebras  and  to  the  protests  against 
publishing  a  key  to  them.  So  long 
as  I  may  be  a  member  of  any 
school  board,  I  will  vote  against 
the  use  or  adoption  of  any  books 
whose  publishers  also  publish  & 
key. 


PROF.  EDWARD  R.  ROBBIHS 


R.  L.  MYERS  &  CO.'S 


PRACTICAL  ARITHMETICS 

By  FLETCHER  DURELI,,  Ph.D. 

Mathematical  Master  in  the  Lawrence-ville  School,  and 

EDWARD  R.  ROBBINS,  A.B. 

Mathematical  Master  in  the  William  Penn  Charter  School 

FIRST  LESSONS  IN  NUMBERS.    88  pages.     25  cents. 
The  development  of  numbers  to  100,  attractively  illustrated. 

THE  ELEMENTARY  PRACTICAL  ARITHMETIC. 

201  pages.     Half  leather.     40  cents. 

The  first  part  is  devoted  to  the  development  of  numbers ; 
it  is  fully  illustrated,  and  this  part  in  itself  is  a  valuable  pri- 
mary arithmetic.  The  second  part  begins  with  the  fundamental 
operations  and  closes  with  the  subject  of  interest.  It  is  an 
interesting  treatment  of  the  more  useful  topics  of  arithmetic. 

THE    ADVANCED     PRACTICAL    ARITHMETIC. 

363  pages.     Half  leather.     65  cents. 

This  volume  covers  the  courses  of  the  best  American  State 
Normal  Schools,  and  meets  the  requirements  for  admission  to 
the  best  American  Colleges.  It  is  also  especially  adapted  to 
the  more  practical  demands  of  the  rural  schools.  Much  obso- 
lete and  valueless  matter  found  in  many  text-books  is  omitted 
and  increased  attention  given  to  arithmetical  analysis,  cancel- 
lation, common  fractions,  decimal  fractions,  practical 
measurements,  applications  of  percentage,  applications  of 
interest,  mensuration,  etc.,  etc  It  contains  also  a  chapter 
on  Arithmetical  History,  which  is  of  great  educational  value 
and  offers  scholarly  possibilities  to  the  bright  teacher. 

The  same  points  of  superiority  that  have  distinguished  the 
Durell  and  Robbins  Algebras  and  won  for  these  books  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  t  achers  and  pupils  are  found  in  the 
Durell  and  Robbins  Arithmetics,  to  wit:  the  original  and 
scholarly  development  of  the  theory  and  the  wonderful  skill 
of  the  authors  in  preparing,  adapting  and  grading  a  large  num- 
ber of  examples  and  review  exercises. 

In  developing  the  theory,  the  authors  have  shown  more 
plainly  than  has  been  done  heretofore  the  common-sense  rea- 
son for  every  step  or  process.  This  treatment  is  better  adapted 
to  the  practical  American  spirit  and  it  also  gives  the  study  of 
Arithmetic  a  larger  educational  value. 

In  making  the  problems  and  illustrative  solutions,  modern 
conditions  and  practices  have  been  kept  in  view.  The  problems 
are  consequently  interesting  and  sensible,  and  the  solutions 
are  up-to-date.  The  exercises  are  well-graded  and  thorough. 

On  every  page  of  these  books  is  stamped  the  class-room 
experience  of  scholarly,  practical  teacners. 


SCHOOL   ARITHMETICS 


FRED.  H.  SOMERVILLE,  Law- 
renceville.  N.  J. — The  Durell  and 
Robbins  Advanced  Practical  Arith- 
metic is  unique  in  that  it  combines 
clearness  of  explanation  with  a 
remarkably  practical  application 
of  principles.  The  conciseness  of 
the  subject  matter,  the  skillful 
gradation  of  the  examples  and  the 
const  int  recurrence  of  carefully 
prepared  review  exercises  give  it  a 
distinctive  value  not  to  be  found  in 
any  text-book  that  has  come  to  my 
notice.  I  find  the  book  of  special 
helpfulness  to  young  students, 
since  it  serves  to  cultivate  an 
interest  not  generally  obtained. 

HOWARD  SMITH,  Instructor  in 
Mathematics.  The  Lawrenceville 
School,  Lawrenceville ,  N.  J. — Much 
useless  and  obsolete  matter  found 
in  so  many  other  Arithmetics  has 
been  omitted  by  the  authors  of  the 
Durell  and  Robbins  Advanced 
Practical  Arithmetic.  The  book  is 
clear,  concise,  and  comprehensive, 
and  meets  in  every  particular  the 
demands  of  our  public  schools, 
normal  schools  and  academies. 

MISS  ALICE  M.  DUDLEY,  Sen- 
ior Teacher  of  A  rithmetic,  William 
Penn  Charter  School,  Philadelphia. 
— For  giving  students  correct  ideas 
of  business  problems  done  in  a 
business-like  way,  I  consider  the 
Advanced  Practical  Arithmetic,  by 
Durell  and  Robbins,  the  best  I  have 
ever  used. 

MISS  LUCY  CHANDLER,  Wil- 
liam Penn  Charter  School,  Phila- 
delphia.— The  Durell  and  Robbins 
Advanced  Practical  Arithmetic  is 
excellent  for  grammar  school 
pupils  needing  a  thorough  drill  in 
work  that  has  been  taken  in  an 
elementary  wny. 

GEORGE  E.  WILBUR,  Depart- 
ment of  Higher  Mathematics,  State 
Normal  School,  Bloomsburg,  Pa. — 
The  Durell  and  Robbins  Advanced 
Practical  Arithmetic  is,  in  every 
respect,  a  splendid  work.  I  shall 
recommend  it  to  our  teacher  of 
Arithmetic. 

JULEFF  PARDEE,  Teacher,  Guy's 
Mills,  Pa.— We  are  using  the  Durell 
and  Robbins  Arithmetics.  I  have 
taught  thirty-two  years,  and  con- 
sider these  the  best  Arithmetics 
that  I  have  ever  used  or  examined. 
The  authors  present  the  different 
subjects  so  clearly  that  the  average 
pupil  makes  rapid  progress  with- 
out much  helo  from  the  teacher. 


R.  G.  MILLER,  Principal,  Eliza- 
beth, Pa.  —  I  like  it  principally 
because  it  is,  as  its  title  indicates, 
"  practical,"  and  has  omitted  a 
number  of  useless  subjects. 

F.  E.  DOWNES,  Principal,  Dick- 
inson Preparatory  School,  Carlisle, 
Pa.  — We  have  been  using  the 
Durell  and  Robbins  Arithmetic 
long  enough  to  learn  that  it  is  just 
the  book  for  a  college  preparatory 
school.  In  general  arrangement 
and  in  the  treatment  of  each  sub- 
ject the  book  is  thoroughly  logical. 
The  explanations  are  clear  to  the 
student;  the  problems  are  well 
selected  and  practical.  It  is  the 
most  teachable  book  we  have  as 
yet  been  able  to  secure.  It  is  giving 
entire  satisfaction. 

M.  J.  MILLER,  Principal,  Con- 
neaut  Lake,  Pa. — We  have  used  the 
Durell  and  Robbius  Algebras  for 
two  jTears,  and  are  now  using  the 
Arithmetics  by  the  same  authors. 
We  find  the  books  well  adapted  to 
practical  scho  >1  room  needs  and 
strictly  up  to  date. 

M.  S.  BENTZ,  Principal,  South 
Fork,  Pa. — We  are  using  the  Durell 
and  Robbins  Arithmetics  in  our 
schools  with  excellent  results.  The 
presentation  of  the  subject  matter 
is  clear  and  concise,  with  plenty  of 
problems  of  a  practical  nature  to 
insure  its  comprehension. 

MISS  MAUD  FISHER,  Teacher, 
Berne,  Pa.  —  They  are  admirable 
books.  I  am  pleased  with  the 
varied  examples,  and  especially 
with  the  reviews  after  every  new 
subject. 

MISS  MARGARET  B.  CONLEY, 
Teacher,  Shermansville ,  Pa.— We 
are  very  much  pleased  with  the 
Durell  and  Robbins  Arithmetics, 
and  I  also  find  the  Algebra  superior 
to  any  I  have  ever  used. 

MISS  LILIAN  HAYES,  Teacher, 
Flton,  Pa.  —  We  are  using  the 
Durell  and  Robbins  Arithmetics, 
and  I  know  of  no  books  that  I 
would  recommend  so  strongly  for 
adoption  in  public  schools. 

WILLIAM  P.  TAYLOR,  A.B., 
(  Yale)  Principal,  Birmingham, 
Ala.— I  like  the  Advanced  Arith- 
metic for  its  attention  given  to  fun- 
damentals and  its  omission  of 
the  useless  "  stuff"  that  has  lit- 
tered most  of  our  text-books  on 
Arithmetic. 


R.  Z    MYERS  &  CO.'S 


GRADED  SPELLING  BOOKS 

By  MARTIN  G.  BENEDICT,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  Pedagogy ',  Pennsylvania   State   College,  State  College,  Pa. 

BENEDICT'S  PHIMARY  SPELLER.  91  Pages.    Cloth. 
20  Cents. 

BENEDICT'S     ADVANCED    SPELLER.     168    Pages. 
Cloth.     25  Cents. 

Well  arranged  spelling  books  will  assist  pupils  to  do  at 
least  three  things:  (i)  To  speak  words  correctly.  (2)  To  write 
words  correctly.  (3)  To  use  words  correctly.  To  speak  words 
correctly,  one  must  know  and  be  able  to  make  the  sounds  of 
which  words  are  composed.  To  write  words  correctly,  one 
must  know  the  elements  of  which  they  are  composed,  and  the 
order  in  which  these  elements  occur.  To  use  words  correctly, 
either  in  spoken  or  written  language,  one  must  know  the 
ideas  for  which  they  stand.  Benedict's  spelling  books  are  writ- 
ten to  harmonize,  to  correlate,  and  to  emphasize  these  points. 
A  popular  correlation  of  spelling  to  other  studies  is  observed, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  reading,  or  language,  or  geog- 
raphy, but  to  emphasize  spelling  as  relative  to  every  other 
branch  of  study  and  to  clothe  it  with  a  living  reality.  The 
proper  study  of  these  books  will  incite  an  interest  in  words 
and  in  word  study  that  will  abide  after  the  spelling  book  has 
been  forgotten. 

DR.  A.  E.  WINSHiP,  Editor  N. 
E.  Journal  of  Education,  Boston, 
Mass.— Professor  Benedict,  of  the 
State  College  of  Pennsylvania,  has 
had  experience  as  principal  of  city 
schools,  has  been  at  the  head  of  a 
normal  school,  and  has  had  much 
experience  in  meeting  teachers  at 
institutes,  and  this  book  is  the 
result  of  many  years  of  thought  up- 
on the  subject  of  teaching  spelling. 
This  is  an  excellent  book,  words 
well  selected  and  arranged,  sounds 
correctly  marked  and  grouped,  and 
meanings  clearly  indicated  in  exer- 
cises intended  for  thought  discrim- 
ination. It  is  a  spelling  book  that 
trains  in  correct  pronunciation 
and  syllabication,  as  well  as  orthog- 
raphy. Synonyms  and  antonyms 
are  abundant.  Dr.  Benedict  evi- 
dently thinks  that  the  correct  spell- 
ing and  pronunciation  of  a  word 
often  depends  upon  its  grammat- 
ical use,  for  he  teaches  language 
incidentally.  He  gives  most  help- 
ful exercises  in  homonyms. 

Names  of  articles  of  commerce 


are  well  emphasized.  Plurals  are 
well  handled.  Proper  names  are 
duly  prominent.  Word  building  is 
a  prominent  feature.  Cognate 
words  and  ideas  are  skillfully 
treated.  Derived  words  are  grouped 
advantageously.  In  every  respect 
this  is  a  valuable  speller,  good  for 
every  child  in  the  grammar  school. 
No  better  book,  to  say  the  least,  has 
been  made  for  securing  intelligent 
and  correct  use  of  the  words  of 
every  day  life.— (In  the  "  N.  E. 
Journal  of  Education,"  Jan.  26, 
1899. ) 

SOFT.  L.  O.  FOOSE,  City 
Schools,  Harrisburg,  Pa.—  *  *  '* 
Both  books  contain  much  that  is 
new,  suggestive  and  helpful  to  both 
teacher  and  pupil,  stress  being  laid 
upon  the  critical  knowledge  of  the 
form  of  a  word  as  well  as  on  its 
meaning  and  use  in  a  sentence. 
They  contain  about  all  the  ordinary 
words  that  are  in  use  in  the  lan- 
guage, an  \  if  mastered  ought 
to  make  good  spellers  beyond 
doubt. 


GRADED  SPELLING  BOOKS 


MISS  ADA  V.  HORTOfi,  Teacher 
Of  Orthography  and  Commercial 
Course,  State  Normal  School,  Ship- 
pensburg,  Pa.— Vie  have  used  Bene- 
dict's Speller  for  more  than  two 
yenrs  with  most  gratifying  results. 
The  arrangement  of  the  work  is 
logical.  It  incites  interest  in  word 
work,  and  its  correlation  with  other 
subjects  makes  it  thoroughly  inter- 
esting, hence  easily  taught." 

Supt.  J.  M.  BERKEY,  City 
Schools,  Johnstown,  Pa. — We  are 
using  Benedict's  Primary  Speller 
in  our  fourth  and  fifth  grades  and 
find  it  very  satisfactory.  It  con- 
tains a  well  selected  and  carefully 
grade  1  list  of  words,  which  is  the 
essential  requisite  in  any  spelling 
book.  The  axithor,  moreover,  has 
wisely  left  the  teacher  to  suggest, 
and  the  pupil  to  work  out  the 
spelling  exercises.  It  is  not  bur- 
dened, as  too  many  of  our  spelling 
books  are,  with  suggestions,  hints, 
methods,  rules,  and  language  exer- 
cises. It  is  simply  a  good,  all- 
round  primary  speller.  I  cheerfully 
endorse  it.  (Since  the  above  was 
written  the  Advanced  Spelter  has 
also  been  adopted.) 

F.  J.  S7ETTLER,  Superinten- 
dent, Slating  ton.  Pa. — Spelling  was 
almost  a  "  lost  art "  in  the  Slating- 
toa  schools  a  few  years  ago.  A 
change  iu  text-books  as  well  as  a 
change  in  the  methods  of  teaching 
spelling  was  absolutely  necessary. 
Our  school  authorities  adopted  and 
introduced  Benedict's  Spellers  last 
September.  Our  teach ers  spe«k  in 
high  prai-e  of  the  merits  of  the 
books.  Their  results  are  excellent. 
The  pupils  of  our  middle  grades 
have  learned  to  know  the  diacritical 
marks  and  are  able  to  use  the  dic- 
tionary intelligently.  Spelling  now 
has  an  upward  tendency  in  our 
schools. 

NORMAN  G.  KEISER,  Principal, 
Delawre  Water  Gap,  Pa. —I  have 
carefully  examined  Benedict's 
Spellers.  They  are  unquestionably 
the  best  series  on  the  market 
to-day.  In  scope  and  arrangement 
of  matter,  they  are  most  practical 
and  theoretically  correct.  The 
phonetic  analysis,  synonyms  and 
auto  iyms  and  the  classification  of 
words  are  among  the  strong  and 
most  meritorious  features.  They 
will  prove  a  revelation  in  spelling. 
We  shall  immediately  adopt  them. 


MISS  M.  E.  BURN  HAN,  Super- 
intendent, Sutton,  Vt.— The  Bene- 
dict Spellers  are  the  best  I  have  yet 
examined  and  I  am  glad  that  I  rec- 
ommended them  for  adoption. 

SUPT.  ADDISON  JONES,  City 
Schools,  West  Chester,  Pa.— We  are 
Wing  Benedict's  Primary  Speller. 
The  w  rds  are  arranged  so  that 
they  are  easily  learned  without 
worrying  the  pupil.  I  have  not 
seen  a  speller  better  suited  to  our 
use. 

M.  L.  MAIER,  Ph.D.,  Presi- 
dent. Kee  Mar  College,  Hagers- 
lown,  Md.—The  Benedict  Speller 
was  adopted  a  year  ago  in  our  in- 
stitution. The  selection  of  words 
and  the  classification  of  the  text  is 
far  superior  to  any  I  have  exam- 
ined. 

D.  C.  STUN  HARD,  Principal, 
Bedford,  Pa. — Benedict's  Spelling 
Books  have  been  in  use  in  the  Bed- 
ford public  schools  since  their 
first  publication,  three  years  ago, 
and  we  have  secured  better  results 
from  their  use  than  we  ever  attain- 
ed by  the  use  of  any  other  books  ; 
and  we  have  reasons  for  expecting- 
even  better  results  when  our  course 
is  thoroughly  introduced  and 
brought  up  to  our  expected  stand- 
ard. 

MRS.  WINIFRED  SMITH  RICE, 

Teacher  of  Literature,  State  Nor- 
mal School,  East  Stroudsburg,  Pa. 
—Benedict's  Advanced  Speller  has 
been  used  in  this  State  Normal 
School  since  its  publication,  in 
1899,  and  we  have  found  it  to  be  the 
most  up-to-date  book  on  spelling 
published.  It  does  all  that  is 
claimed  for  it  in  the  preface,  teach- 
ing, in  the  shortest  time  possible, 
three  things:  to  speak  or  pro- 
nounce words  correctly  ;  to  write 
or  spell  words  correctly;  to  use 
words  correctly.  Without  doubt, 
it  is  the  best  book  that  could  be 
made  for  normal  school  purposes  ; 
as  the  diacritical  markings  corres- 
pond, on  the  main,  to  the  phronic 
methods  employed  in  the  best 
reading  systems,  thus  teaching  the 
student  liis  reading  methods  inci- 
dentally with  his  spelling.  The 
diacritical  markings  also  give  the 
student  a  foundation  by  which  he 
may  later  help  himself  in  the  study 
of  language.  Its  simplicity  and 
progressive  arrangement  are  also 
strong  points  iu  its  favor. 


.  L.  MYERS  &  COSS 


HISTORY 

OUTLINES   OF  GENERAL  HISTORY 

In  the  Form  of  Questions 

By  J.  R.  FUCKINGER,  M. A. , 

Principal  State  Normal  School,  Lock  Haven,  Pa. 


SIZE,  7x8^- 


169  PAGES.    CI.OTH. 
50  CENTS 


LINEN  PAPER. 


Extracts  from  the  author's  preface :  "All  teachers  of  gen- 
eral history  in  the  secondary  schools  of  this  country  know 
that,  owing  to  the  lack  of  time,  very  unsatisfactory  results  are 
attained.  Daily  recitations,  topical  or  otherwise,  finally  accu- 
mulate in  the  mind  of  the  pupil  such  a  mass  that  there  can  be 
no  satisfactory  assimilation.  To  obviate  this  defect,  these 
questions  were  framed.  *  *  *  *  By  this  means,  the 
constructive  mental  qualities  of  most  students  are  exercised. 
Then,  too,  it  is  a  well-known  pedagogical  fact,  that  most  of  us 
are  of  the  motor  type,  and  that  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  construct 

that  which  we  would  master. 
"Without  question,  the 
best  possible  method  of 
studying  history  is  that  of 
the  seminary,  by  which  orig- 
inal sources  are  examined, 
and  both  oral  and  written 
construction  of  the  narrative 
is  practiced.  This  method, 
however,  can  only  be  used 
in  the  university,  and  can- 
not be  thought  of  in  our 
secondary  schools.  There- 
fore, these  questions  have 
been  framed  in  order  that 
we  might  have  a  compromise 
method  between  the  best 
and  the  poorest  methods. 
The  author  believes  that  a 
great  deal  of  the  poor  teach- 
ing done  in  this  subject 
arises  from  a  lack  of  time,  as  has  been  said,  but  that  the  gradual 
accumulation  of  a  mass  of  matter  assists  in  further  deteriora- 
ting the  work  of  the  teacher  for  each  term.  Both  teacher  and 
pupil  become  discouraged,  and  they  lose  interest,  and,  hence, 
tenacity  of  purpose.  By  supplementing  the  narrative  method 
with  a  series  of  suggestive  questions,  not  only  will  the  interest 
be  maintained,  but  the  student  will  be  encouraged  along  the 
line  of  least  resistance. ' ' 


PROF.  J.  R.  FLICKINGER. 


HISTORY 

FLASK-LIGHTS    ON    AMEKICAN    HISTORY. 

By  DAWSEY  COPE  MURPHY,  Ph.D. 

Superintendent  of  Training  Department,  Stale  Normal  School, 
Slippery  Rock,  Pa. 

208  PAGES.    ILLUSTRATED.    BOUND  IN  CLOTH 
PRICE,  65  CENTS 

This  book  is  not  the  work  of  a  professional  author.  Dr. 
Murphy  is  a  careful  student  of  history,  and  an  able  lecturer 
upon  this  subject.  He  was  formerly  a  teacher  of  prominence 
in  public  schools;  and  for  the  past  seven  years  he  has  been 
training  teachers  for  every  grade  of  public  school  work.  FLASH- 
LIGHTS ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY  is  therefore  the  outgrowth 
of  the  school-room  and  the  platform,  and  is  a  reader  of  real 
value  to  the  schools.  It  will  awaken  a  deeper  interest  in  his- 
toric study,  and  create  a  greater  fondness  for  beautiful  selec- 
tions of  prose  and  poetry.  Subjects  are  arranged  chronologi- 
cally. The  explanatory  notes  are  helpful.  The  historical 
recreations  excite  renewed  interest.  All  in  all,  it  is  one  of  the 
best  of  supplementary  readers.  Where  it  is  not  provided  for 
class  use,  it  should  be  on  the  teacher's  desk  and  in  the  school 
library. 

SAMUEL  HAMILTON,  Superintendent,  Allegheny  Co.,  Pa.— "Flash- 
Lights  on  American  History"  is  an  admirable  work.  It  is  a  connecting 
link  between  history  and  literature,  adding  new  life  and  interest  to  both. 
It  is  especially  well  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  public  school  as  a  supple- 
meutary  reader. 

DR.  M.  G.  BRUMBAUGH,  University  of  Pen nsylvania.— Murphy's 
41  Flash-Lights  on  American  History"  is  an  admirable  book  for  the 
teacher,  and  is  full  of  most  helpful  historical  material,  written  in  a  fas- 
cinating manner.  The  author  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  producing  so 
excellent  a  treatise. 

From  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  JOURNAL,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.— The  hope  of  the  author  of"  Flash-Lights  on  American  History"  has 
already  been  realized.  The  children  in  the  home  wish  to  reatf  and  to  re- 
read every  page  of  this  most  admirable  and  timely  compilation.  Older 
people,  too,  have  read  it  and  will  read  it  again.  It  is  a  book  all  alive  with 
stories,  in  prose  aud  verse,  of  noble  and  daring  deeds.  A  soul-stirring 
poem,  or  a  patriotic  address,  based  upon  some  heroic  event  such  as  we 
find  here,  sets  the  hearts  of  pupils  aflame  with  interest. 

W.  S.  BRYAN,  Principal,  Carnegie,  Pa.— We  like  your  book.  It 
creates  a  new  interest  in  the  history  classes.  We  count  it  our  best  supple- 
mentary reader. 

D.  J.  DRISCOLL,  Principal,  St.  Mary's,  Pa.— I  secured  one  of  the 
first  copies  that  came  from  the  press.  I  am  delighted  with  it.  The  pupils 
ask  to  take  it  home  oftener  than  any  other  book  in  our  library,  and  several 
of  them  have  already  read  it  through. 


R.  L.  MYERS  &  CO.'S 

THE  PENNSYLVANIA  SERIES 

,  Bver  since  the  union  of  the  thirteen  colonies,  Pennsylvania 
has  been  known  as  the  "  Keystone."  She  is  by  nature  and  by 
achievements  entitled  to  this  distinction.  There  is  no  equal 
area  on  the  face  of  the  Globe  to  which  the  Creator  has  given  so 
great  a  variety  of  blessings  in  soil,  rivers  and  mountains.  Three 
of  the  five  richest  agricultural  counties  in  the  country  are  in 
Pennsylvania.  Her  mines  of  iron,  wells  of  oil,  and  pockets  of 
gas  are  almost  matchless,  while  she  has  the  world's  richest 
storehouses  of  anthracite  and  bituminous  coals.  Sixty-six  of 
her  sixty-seven  counties  are  penetrated  by  great  railway  sys- 
tems; and  the  Ohio,  the  Susquehanna,  the  Schuylkill,  the 
Delaware,  the  Lehigh,  the  Allegheny  and  the  Monongahela 
form  a  combination  of  rivers  unequaled  by  any  other  State. 

.  All  these  blessings  are  at  the  mercy  of  the  coming  genera- 
tion. Never  before  was  the  need  of  civic  patriotism  so  great. 
Civic  clubs  are  demanding  it ;  churches  are  preaching  it ;  and 
the  schools  are  urged  to  teach  it.  History  is  the  foundation  of 
true  patriotism  and  real  civic  pride.  Better  than  mines  and 
forests,  than  water  power  and  navigable  rivers,  than  railways 
and  shipyards,  is  the  State's  inheritance  from  William  Penn, 
the  statesman,  philanthropist,  educator  and  Christian;  from 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  Robert  Fulton,  and 
other  great  leaders;  from  Independence  Hall,  Valley  Forge, 
Gettysburg,  and  other  hallowed  spots  made  sacred  by  the  suffer- 
ing, the  bravery  and  the  blood  of  a  patriotic  ancestry. 

In  view  of  the  importance  of  Pennsylvania,  it  has  been 
deemed  advisable  to  publish  a  series  of  school  books  bearing 
upon  the  State  and  her  institutions,  and  the  first  two  books  of 
the  series  are  herewith  announced. 

A  HISTORY  OP  PENNSYLVANIA 

By  L.  S.  SHIMMEU,,  Ph.D. 

Teacher  of  United  States  History  and  Civil  Government,  High  School, 
Harnsburg.    Author  of"  The  Pennsylvania  Citizen" 

PAGES  356.    FULLY  ILLUSTRATED.    CLOTH.   PRICE,  90  CENTS 

In  his  simple,  clear  and  accurate  style,  so  well-known  to 
all  schoolmen  in  Pennsylvania,  the  author  of  this  new  book 
tells  of  the  Indians  and  their  dealings  with  our  forefathers; 
gives  an  account  of  the  early  settlements  of  the  Dutch,  the 
Swedes,  the  English,  the  Germans,  the  Welsh,  the  Scotch- 
Irish  and  the  French  Huguenots;  describes  the  growth  in  popu- 
lation and  the  adjustment  of  territorial  boundaries;  explains 
the  early  forms  of  government ;  records  the  administrations  of 
the  government  during  tlie  colonial,  the  revolutionary,  and  the 
constitutional  period;  relates  the  industrial  and  educational 
history  of  the  State ;  and  closes  with  a  chapter  of  biographical 
sketches,  that  to  any  teacher  is  alone  worth  the  price  of  the  book. 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  SERIES 


DR.  D.  J.  WALLER,  Principal, 
Siaie  Normal  School ',  Indiana,  Pa. 
— Shimmell's  "  Pennsylvania  Citi- 
zen "  merits  the  wide  adoption 
given  it,  and  his  History  is  eleven 
greater  interest  lor  Pennsylvania 
because  it  is  of  as  deep  interest  for 
women  as  for  men.  Dr.  Shimmell 
is  to  be  congratulated  upon  hav- 
ing produced  a  book  that  was 
needed,  and  upon  having  produced 
one  bo  good  tliut  another  will  not 
soon  be  written  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. Hi  has  succeeded  in  com- 
pacting a  large  mass  of  facts  into  a 
haud-oook  au>l  yet  in  writing  his- 
tory, livery  school  in  Pennsylva- 
nia in  which  American  history  is 
taught  should  have  copies  of  this 
book.  It  will  win  its  way. 

DR.  CEO.  EDWARD  REED, 
President  Dickinson  College, 
Carlisle,  Pa.— I  have  examined  Dr. 
L.  S.  Shimmell's  excellent  work 
"  A  History  of  Pennsylvania  "  with 
considerable  care,  and  ani  very 
much  pleased  with  the  simple 
and  natural  arrangement  of  the 
matter  of  the  volume.  The  literary 
style  of  the  author  is  very  attrac- 
tive, and  the  whole  arrangement 
of  the  book  is  such  as  to  render 
it  particularly  well  adapted  for 
text-book  purposes.  It  would  be  n 
most  valuable  book  to  introduce  in 
the  Public  Schools  of  Pennsylvania. 

PROF.  J.  C.  TAYLOR,  Superin- 
tendent, Lackuwanna  County,  Pa. — 
Every  teacher  of  history  in  the 
State  should  have  a  copy,  and  every 
school  should  be  supplied.  I  think 
of  contributing  a  copy  to  each 
library  in  this  county. 

DR.  J.  R.  FLICKiNGER,  Ptin- 
cipal,  State  Normal  School,  Lock 
Haven,  Pa.— I  compliment  the  au- 
thor on  the  skill  he  has  shown  in 
the  balancing  of  his  data.  He  has 
done  good  pioneer  work  and  his 
book  should  have  the  encourage- 
ment of  Pennsylvania  teachers.  As 
soon  as  we  can  find  a  place  for  it 
we  shall  giv  :  it  a  trial.  It  is  very 
attractive  in  appearance. 

PROF.  A.  WANNER,  City  Super- 
intendent, York,  Pa.—  Shimmers 
History  of  Pennsylvania  happily 
presents  the  leading  facts  in  the 
history  of  our  State.  The  graphic 
arrangement  by  which  along  paral- 
lel lines,  the  great  closely  related 
phases  of  development,  separately 
treated,  are  presented,  immensely 
adds  to  the  interest  and  value  of 
the  book. 


THE  TIMES,  PittsburK,  Pa.. 
May  9,  iqcn. — There  are  few  things 
that  it  is  necessary  to  know  about 
the  story  of  the  Keystone  State 
that  cannot  be  found  in  this  vol- 
ume. It  is  illustrated  by  manv 
engravings  of  historic  building's 
and  places  and  with  many  por- 
traits. A  valuable  feature  of  the 
volume  is  a  series  of  brief,  well 
written  biographies  of  men  promi- 
nent in  the  various  activities  of 
the  Commonwealth,  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  present. 

PROF.  H.  MILTON  ROTH, 
Superintendent,  Adams  County, 
Pa. — I  have  thoroughly  examined 
"  A  History  of  Pennsylvania  "  and 
am  much  pleased  with  it.  I  am  a 
firm  advocate  of  having  State  his- 
tory taught  in  the  public  schools, 
and  bespeak  a  prominent  place  for 
"  A  History  of  Pennsylvania "  in 
the  schools  of  our  Commonwealth. 
May  it  be  as  helpful  to  the  student 
as  the  "  Pennsylvania  Citizen"  has 
been. 

DR.  J.  D.  MOFFAT,  President 
Washington  and  Jefferson  College, 
Washington,  Pa. — It  is  certainly  a 
practical  book,  embodying  an  im- 
mense amount  of  information  in 
small  space,  and  presented  in  a 
simple,  straight  forward  way  that 
is  both  interesting  and  instructive. 

PROF.  A.  G.  C.  SMITH,  Super- 
intendent',  Delaware  County,  Pa. — 
I  am  quite  pleased  with  it  and  I  am 
sure  it  will  be  found  a  useful  book 
in  both  public  and  private  schools. 
It  is  written  in  a  pleasing  style 
and  contains  much  that  every 
Pennsylvanian  should  know.  I 
bespeak  for  it  the  success  the 
efforts  of  the  author  deserve. 

DR.  G.  M.  PHILIPS,  Principal, 
Stale  Normal  School,  West  Ches- 
ter, Pa. — I  have  looked  through  it 
with  some  care  and  with  much 
interest.  The  work  is  not  only 
well  done,  but.  what  is  almost  more 
important  iti  a  history^  and  espe- 
cially a  local  history,  it  is  interest- 
ingly done.  I  congratulate  both 
its  author  and  its  publisher  upon  it. 

HON.  HENRY  HOUCK,  Deputy 
Stale  Superintendent,  Harrisburg, 
Pa. — Pennsylvania  has  a  history  of 
which  every  one  of  its  citizens  has 
a  right  to  feel  proud,  and  this  book 
tells  the  story  veil.  I  have  read 
many  Stste  school  histories  and  I 
am  glad  to  say  that  in  my  opinion 
this  book  ranks  with  the  very  best. 


R.  L.  MYERS  &  CO.'S 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  CITIZEN 
By  Iv.  S.  SHIMMELI,,  Ph.D. 

Teacher  of  U.  S.  History  and  Civil  Government,  High  School, 
Harrisburg 

THE  PENNSYLVANIA  CITIZEN  is  a  complete  civil  gov- 
ernment of  Pennsylvania,  and  contains  al  o  the  essentials  of 
the  national  government.  It  is  used  in  a  majority  of  the  school 
districts  of  the  State,  including  the  following  cities  and 
boroughs:  Allegheny,  Altoona,  Bethlehem,  Braddock,  Carbon- 
dale,  Columbia,  Corry,  Danville,  DuBois,  Dumnore,  Easton, 
Erie,  Franklin,  Greensburg,  Harrisburg,  Hazleton,  Huntingdon, 
Jeannette,  Lebanon,  Lock  Haven,  McKees'  ort,  Mahanoy  City, 
Meadville,  Middletown,  New  Brighton,  New  Castle,  Philadel- 
phia, Pittsburg,  Pottstown.  Shamokin,  Shenandoah,  South 
Bethlehem,  Steelton,  Sunbury,  Titusville,  Tyrone,  Uniontown, 
Wilkes-Barre  and  York. 

The  recent  law  requiring  teachers  to  be  examined  in  civil 
government,  including  State  and  local  government,  is  evidence 
that  the  book  supplies  a  demand  that  is  general  all  over  the 
State.  Although  its  sale  is  limited  to  Pennsylvania,  yet  the 
PENNSYLVANIA  CITIZEN  has  reached  its  loo.oooth  volume. 


Comments  on  "The  Pennsylvania  Citizen' 

DR.  EDWARD  BROOKS,  City 
Superintendent,  Philadelphia.— 
"The  Pennsylvania  Citizen"  is 
well  adapted  to  give  that  training 
in  civic  knowledge  so  essential  to 
every  citizen  of  our  country.  It 
will  do  a  good  work  in  the  State  in 
educating  patriotic  American  citi- 
zens. 


DR.  J.  S.  TAYLOR,  Grammar 
School  86,  New  York  City.— I  wish 
there  were  a  New  York  edition  of 
"The  Pennsylvania  Citizen,"  and 
that  it  were  on  our  list.  I  am 


using: 


-,  which  is  entirely  too 


prolix,  and  does  not  come  close 
enough  home  for  school  children. 
It  is  too  abstract  and  attempts  too 
much.  I  congratulate  you  on  this 
book.  The  style  is  fluent  and 
lucid,  and  your  choice  of  the  topics 
most  happy. 

WILUAM  LAUDER,  General 
Manager  Kemble  Iron  Company, 
Riddlesburg,  Pa.;  also  President 
of  Broad  Top  Township  School 
Board. — Shimruell's  "Pennsylvania 
Citizen"  is  one  of  the  best  books  in 
that  line  I  have  seen,  and  it  ought 
to  be  made  a  compulsory  text-book 
in  ail  our  schools.  If  the  states- 
men were  as  active  as  the  W.  C.  T. 
U.  they  would  soon  put  it  into  use, 
and  it  would  do  more  good  than 
physiology. 


DR.  LINCOLN  HULLEY,  De- 
partment of  History,  Bucknell 
University.  —  "  The  Pennsylvania 
Citizen"  Is  an  admirable  book.  I  do 
not  know  of  anything  so  suitable 
for  schools  in  Pennsylvania  as  this 
book.  I  shall  recommend  it  wher- 
ever I  get  a  chance.  The  study  of 
State  government  is  as  important  as 
that  of  the  National,  if  not  more  so. 

MISS  MARY  B.  ROCXWOOD, 
Girfs  Latin  School,  Baltimore, 
Md. — "The  Pennsylvania  Citizen " 
should  certainly  be  immensely 
popular  in  Pennsylvania,  for  it  has 
the  same  excellent  qualities  that 
we  all  appreciate  in  the  "School 
Gazette."  It  is  clear,  it  is  simple,  it 
is  comprehensive,  it  is  interesting, 
it  is  "  up-to-date." 

DR.  JOHN  BALLENTINE,  State 
Normal,  Clarion,  Pa. — I  have  care- 
fully read  Shimmell's  "Pennsyl- 
vania Citizen."  The  work  is  brief, 
but  the  facts  are  clearly  and  accu- 
rately stated.  Chapter  II  contains 
information  not  usually  found  in 
short  manuals.  Chapter  IX  has 
valuable  definitions.  This  is  the 
third  outline  of  the  government  of 
our  State  that  has  found  its  way 
into  our  school,  and,  according  to 
my  judgment,  the  best.  It  ought 
to  be  studied  in  every  commou 
school  in  Pennsylvania. 


IDEAL  MUSIC   COURSE 


WEAL   MUSIC  COURSE 

By  J.  A.  SPRENKEI, 

Supervisor  of  Music,  Bethlehem,  Pa. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  course,  two  conditions  have  been 
carefully  considered,  (i)  That  vocal  music  in  our  public 
schools  must,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  be  taught  by  the 
regular  teachers.  Special  attention,  therefore,  is  given  to  sug- 
gestive lessons  and  exercises  in  the  theory  of  vocal  music. 
(2)  That  the  songs  of  the  school  room  are  treasured  in  the 
tninds  of  the  pupils,  and  are  seldom  forgotten.  Good  thoughts 
and  sentiments  are,  therefore,  fully  as  important  as  pleasing 
music.  It  has,  consequently,  been  necessary  to  omit  many 
so-called  new  songs,  and  to  draw  largely  from  standard  poetry, 
suggestive  of  noble  thoughts  and  fancies. 

PBIMARY  IDEAL  MUSIC  BOOK.    96  PAGES.    HAW? 

CI/OTH.    35  CENTS. 

The  rudimental  department  is  simple  and  thorough.  The 
music  includes  a  wide  range  of  subjects  and  styles.  The  songs 
are  bright  and  pleasing.  It  is  a  standard  primary  work. 

ADVANCED  IDEAL  MUSIC  BOOK.  198  PAGES. 
CLOTH.  60  CENTS. 

This  is  one  of  the  best  books  for  teaching  purposes  and 
chorus  work  ever  published.  It  is  divided  into  departments, 
and  each  department  is  as  nearly  perfect  as  it  could  well  be 
made.  ^  Every  piece  of  music  is  good ;  every  song  will  be  sung 
and  enjoyed.  There  is  not  a  poor  page  in  the  book. 

This  course  is  complete  in  itself,  but  "The  Ideal  Music 
Chart ' '  has  been  provided  for  those  who  wish  to  use  one. 


DR.    NATHAN     C.     SHEAFFER, 

Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion, Pennsylvania. — It  has  been 
my  pleasure  at  different  institutes 
to  listen  to  the  talks  of  Prof.  J.  A. 
Sprenkel,  and  to  hear  him  conduct 
the  exercises  in  singing.  He*  pos- 
sesses rare  powers  for  holding  the 
attention  of  an  audience,  and 
superior  abilities  as  a  leader  of  the 
ringing  in  large  gatherings. 

PROF.  A.  L.  L.  SUHRIE,  Prin- 
cipal Public  Schools,  St.  Marys, 
Pa.— Prof.  Lion,  my  first  assistant, 
is  a  musician,  and  he  has  taken 
charge  of  the  music  in  our  schools. 
He  is  much  pleased  with  the  books, 
and  we  have  been  able  to  secure 
excellent  results  thus  far. 

DR.  ARNOLD  TOMPKINS,  Chi- 
cago University.— Prof.  J.  A.  Spren- 
kel is  not  only  an  enthusiastic  and 


an  efficient  teacher  of  music,  but 
one  whose  bearing  and  character 
exert  a  wholesome  influence  on 
those  about  him.  He  is  the  author 
of  music  books  of  high  merit. 

PROF.  A.  J.  BEITZEL,  County 
Superintendent,  Cumberland 
County,  Pa.  —  The  "  Ideal  Music 
Course  "has  been  generally  intro- 
duced into  the  schools  of  the 
several  townships  and  boroughs 
in  this  county,  and  the  books  are 
giving  the  best  of  satisfaction. 
*  *  *  The  charge  that  music 
cannot  be  successfully  taught  with- 
out a  special  teacher  falls  to  the 
ground  in  the  face  of  the  success 
achieved  by  our  teachers  and  pupils 
during  the  present  term,  in  sight 
reading,  time,  and  part  singing. 
ighly 


Directors  and  patrons  are  h 
pleased.  The  course  has 
strongest  endorsement. 


my 


R.  L.  MYERS 


THE  IDEAL  MUSIC  CHART 

By  C.  H.  CONGDON  and 
O.  E.  McFADDEN 

Directors  of  Music,  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  respectively 

44  PAGES,  32x44 
PRICE,  INCLUDING  CHART  SUPPORTER,  $7.50 

This  chart  is  most  excellent,  musically,  educationally,  and 
typographically,  and  in  every  way  will  stand  the  test  of  intelli- 
gent criticism.  The  exercises  are  not  merely  samples  of  many 
difficulties  in  time  and  tune ;  but  they  lead  pupils  naturally 
through  one  difficulty  after  another,  by  the  use  of  many  tune- 
ful, pleasing  exercises  and  songs,  so  carefully  graded  that  each 
succeeding  exercise  can  be  sung  at  sight.  The  proper  use  of 
it  will  develop  the  intervals  of  the  scale  and  cultivate  sight- 
singing  ability. 

PROF.  FRANK  DAMROSCH,  of  New  York  Czt?.—It  gives  me  pleasure 
to  tell  you  that  your  "Ideal  Music  Chart"  is  being:  used  in  ray  classes 
with  much  success,  and  that  I  find  it  of  great  assistance.  I  think  it  is  one 
of  the  best  charts  for  elementary  instruction  I  know  of. 

MISS  SARAH  L.  ARNOLD,>.S>»A«rvsf0r  of  Primary  Work,  Boston 
Schools. — I  have  carefully  examined  the  "Ideal  Music  Chart,"  and  have 
noted  the  progress  of  the  classes  where  it  has  been  used.  I  am  confident 
that  it  will  prove  satisfactory  wherever  it  is  introduced.  It  presents  a 
large  number  and  variety  of  simple  exercises,  which  are  thoroughly 
adapted  to  primary  work. 


CHBOMATIC  PITCH  INSTRUMENT 
Patented  by  C.  II.  CONGDON 
PRICE,  50  CENTS 

I*  sounds  "  Do  "  for  ten  key.?.  It  saves  valuable  time  often 
used  in  getting  and  keeping  the  pitch.  It  is  necessary  to  the 
greatest  success  in  any  singing  exercise.  It  contains  a  separate 
German  silver  reed  for  every  pitch.  It  does  not  get  out  of  tune, 
and  requires  no  adjustment. 

Recommended  and  Used  by  the  Following  Well-Known 
Supervisors  of  Music : 


H.  E.  HOLT Boston 

O.  BLACKMAN,  ....  Chicago 
N.  COB  STEWART,  .  .  Cleveland 
B.  JEPSON,  ....  New  Haven 
MRS.  EMMA  A.  THOMAS,  .  Detroit 
FREDERICK  H.  RIPLEY,  .  Boston 

W.  A.  OGDEN, Toledo 

JOSEPH  MISCHKA,  .  .  .  Buffalo 
O.  E.  McFADDON,  .  Minneapolis 
Miss  FANNIE  ARNOLD,  .  Omaha 
I/EONARD  B.  MARSHALL,  Boston 
MRS.  AGNES  Cox,  .  .  .  Chicago 


IRVING  EMERSON, 
P.  C.  HAYDEN, 

F.  N.  COTTLE,     .      . 

S.  W.  MOUNTZ,      . 

T.  P.  GlDDINGS, 

P.  M.  BACH,     . 
HERBERT  GRIGGS,    . 
JAMES  W.  MCLAUGHLIN, 


Hartford 
Quincy 
Chicago 
Chicago 
Oak  Park 
Colorado  Springs 
Denver 
Boston 


CARRIE  V.  SMITH,  .  .  .  Winona 
SARA  L.  DUNNING,  New  York  City 
MARY  A.  GRANDY,  .  Sioux  City 
GEO.  C.  YOUNG,  .  Salt  Lake  City 


BOOKS  FOR   TEACHERS 


BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS 

THE    NEW   MANUAL   AND    GUIDE   FOB 
TEACHERS 

By  J.  M.  BERKEY,  A.M. 

City  Superintendent  Schools,  Johnstown,  Pa,,  and  late  Superintendent 
of  Somerset  County,  Pa. 

131  PAGES.      FIRMLY  BOUND  IN  CLOTH.      PRICE,  50  CENTS 

The  constantly  increasing  demand  for  che  former  edition 
of  the  MANUAL  AND  GUIDE  has  entirely  exhausted  the  supply 
and  made  its  further  publication  necessary.  In  the  preparation 
of  the  new  edition,  the  author  has  taken  the  opportunity  to 
thoroughly  revise  the  work  and  to  add  to  it  a  number  of  new 
and  valuable  features.  It  is  no  longer  a  manual  for  the  teacher 
of  the  elementary  district  school  only,  but  in  its  enlarged  scope 
and  application  it  will  be  found  equally  helpful  in  all  grades 
and  departments  of  the  city  and  town  schools.  As  now 
arranged,  its  aim  is  to  unify  elementary  school  work  and  to 
harmonize  along  essential  lines  the  advanced  or  high-school 
courses  of  study.  The  principle  of  uniformity,  however, 
applies  only  to  fundamental  requirements  common  to  all  school 
»vork,  while  giving  the  widest  possible  latitude  in  the  choice  of 
text-books,  methods  of  teaching,  and  adaptation  to  local  con- 
ditions. 


Extracts  from  Letters  Kelative  to  "The  New  Manual  and  Guide  for 
Teachers." 


PROF.  M.  G.  BRUMBAUGH, 
A.M.,  Ph.D.,  Department  of  Peda- 
gogy ,  Un  ive  rsity  of  Pe  n  n  sylva  nia. — 
"The  teachers'  Manual  and  Guide" 
ts  the  best  thing  for  the  public 
schools  I  have  yet  seen.  *  *  *  I 
hope  to  see  it  used  everywhere. 

SUPT.     A.      M.     HAMMERS, 

Indiana  County.— It  has  been  used 
in  this  county  with  the  most  grati- 
fying results. 

SUPT.  JOHN  W.  SNOKE,  Leba- 
non County.  —  Our  schools  have 
greatly  improved  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  graded  system. 

SUPT.  W.  F.  ZUMBRO,  Frank- 
lin County. — I  shall  want  one  hun- 
dred copies  for  our  teachers. 

SUPT.  ELI  M.  RAPP,  Berks 
County.  —  Every  teacher  of  our 
mixed  schools  should  possess  a 
copy.  


SUPT.  W.  A.  SNYDER,  Clinton 
County. — The  Manual  is  just  the 
thing  we  need  for  our  schools,  and 
our  teachers  are  of  the  same  opin- 
ion. 

HON.  HENRY  HOUCK,  Deputy 
State  Superintendent,  Pa.— It  is 
the  best  I  have  ever  seen. 

SUPT.  H.  S.  WERTZ,  Blair 
County.— I  am  pleased  with  the 
New  Manual  and  shall  favor  its 
adoption  in  Blair  County. 

SUPT.  T.  L.  GIBSON,  Cambria 
County.— The  New  Manual  and 
Guide  for  Teachers  is  one  of  three 
books  made  the  basis  01  examina- 
tions in  theory  of  teaching  in  Cam- 
bria County. 

SUPT.  E.  E.  PRITTS,  Somerset 
Cou nty.— This  manual  has  done 
much  in  Somerset  County  to  syste- 
matize the  work  of  ungraded 
schools. 


R.  L.  MYERS  &  CO.'S 


JUKES-EDWARDS 

By  A.  E.  WINSHIP,  Litt.D. 

Editor  New  England  Journal  of  Education 

i2Mo.    CLOTH,  50  CENTS.    PAPER,  25  CENTS 

This  is  one  of  tha  greatest  educational  studies  ever  pub- 
lished. Every  teacher,  minister,  statesman  and  philanthropist 
should  read  it. 

The  descendants  of  Jonathan  Edwards  are  contrasted  with 
the  infamous  "Jukes"  family  of  degenerates.  Shiftlessness, 
ignorance  and  neglect  have  given  to  the  world  a  family  of 
1,200  paupers,  criminals,  invalids  and  imbeciles,  costing  the  State 
in  crime  and  pauperism  $i  ,250,000 ;  while  a  high  original  pur- 
pose, good  surroundings  and  good  education  have  given  to  the 
world  a  family  of  1,400  of  the  "world's  noblemen." 


DR.  EDWARD  BROOKS,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa. — "Jukes-Edwards"  is 
an  excellent  book,  and  would  prove 
a  strong  influence  for  social  and 
moral  reform  wherever  it  may  be 
read. 

DR.  SAMUEL  HAMILTON,  £r<z<f- 

dock,  Pa. — The  story  is  one  that 
tells  and  the  book  ought  to  be  read 
by  every  parent  as  well  as  every 
citizen. 

SUPT.  JOHN  MORROW,  Alle- 
gheny City,  Pa.— I  would  like  to  see 
all  our  teachers  and  parents  read 
"Jukes- Edwards." 

SUPT.  C.  A.  BABCOCK,  Oil  City, 
Pa. — It  seems  to  me  that  it  would 
be  a  good  plan  to  have  some  one 
read  a  review  of  "Jukes-Edwards" 
before  every  Institute  in  the  State — 
or  in  as  many  as  possible.  The 
facts  in  the  book  should  be  known 
by  every  one. 

SUPT.  E.  MAC  KEY,  Reading, 
Pa.— I  have  used  "Jukes- Edwards" 
in  my  Normal  Class,  and  I  would 
be  g  ad  to  see  a  copy  of  it  in  the 
hands  of  every  teacher. 

From    THE     PICAYUNE,    New 

Orleans,  La. — The  moral  is  obvious 
and  it  is  emphatically  asserted. 

From    THE    ARGONAUT,     San 

Francisco,  Cal.  —  Forcible  argu- 
ments for  mental  and  moral  train- 
ing. 


From  THE  HEIDELBERG 
TEACHER,  Philadelphia,  /fc.— One 
of  the  most  intensely  interesting 
books  we  have  ever  read,  setting 
forth  the  constructive  force  of  train- 
ing and  environment  and  the  de- 
structive force  of  idleness  and  vul- 
garity. The  Jukes  family  offers  a 
good  illustration  of  degeneracy, 
while  a  study  of  the  Edwards 
family  presents  a  cheery,  comfort- 
ing and  convincing  contrast.  The 
biographical  details  given  add 
attractiveness  and  value  to  the  book 
that  cannot  fail  to  inspire  numer- 
ous sermons  and  abundant  food  for 
thought  to  parents. 

LUCIA  AMES  MEAD,  in  Boston 
Transcript  — Never  was  there  more 
conclusive  evidence  of  the  results 
of  early  nurture  in  virtue  than  in 
the  1,400  descendants  of  Jonathan 
Edwards.  *  *  *  *  Not  only  have 
these  cost  the  State  nothing  beyond 
their  public  school  training,  but 
their  contribution  to  American  life 
has  been  great  and  continuous. 

From  THE  CHRISTIAN  ADVO- 
CATE.— He  gives  the  maxims  by 
which  the  famous  divine  (Jonathan 
Edwards)  shaped  his  life,  relates 
his  manner  of  training  his  eleven 
children,  and  shows  a  genealogy 
without  the  name  of  a  single  de- 
generate (and  but  one  that  needs 
an  apology,  Aaron  Burr). 

From  THE   RELIGIOUS  TELE- 
SCOPE, Dayton,  Ohio.—   *    *    * 
The  book  should  be  read  by  every 
minister,  teacher,  and  parent. 


BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS 


A  NEW  LIFE  IN  EDUCATION 

By  PROF.  FLETCHER  DURELI,,  Ph.D. 
SIZE,  I2MO.    288  PAGES.    BOUND  IN  LINEN.    PRICE,  90  CEN.TS 

This  is  a  comprehensive  and  vigorous  work,  covering  not 
only  intellectual  education,  but  physical,  moral  and  religious 
education.  Hence,  no  instructor  in  any  portion  of  the  wi  -e 
field  of  education  can  read  the  book  without  gaining  new  ideas 
to  expand  his  mind  and  increase  his  teaching  power.  Professor 
Durell  has  given  years  of  study  to  the  educational  methods  in 
this  country  and  abroad,  and  has  lectured  upon  the  subject  to 
college  and  other  students.  His  work  is  that  of  an  experienced 
educator — a  systematic,  thorough  and  logic  consideration  of 
advanced  ideas  and  historical  principles.  The  results  of  schol- 
arly and  scientific  study  are  applied  to  current  educational 
problems,  too  often  passed  over  with  scant  attention.  This 
work  will  be  found  helpful  and  inspiring  to  the  conscientious 
educator. 


THE  AMERICAN  MATHEMAT- 
ICAL MONTHLY.  -It  is  written  in 
an  easy,  clear  and  fluent  style,  and 
so  fascinating  that  it  is  difficult  to 
lay  it  down  until  you  have  com- 
pleted it.  It  is  one  of  those  pure, 
wholesome  books  that  deserve  to 
have  a  wide  circulation.  It  should 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  every 
teacher  and  pupil. 


NEW   YORK    INDEPENDENT.— 

It  deserved  a  first  prize,  and  it  de- 
serves what  is  far  better  than  that, 
and  far  more  difficult  to  win,  the 
widest  possible  reading.  *  *  *  We 
wish  every  teacher  and  every  boy 
or  girl  in  the  country  knew  by 
heart  the  chapters  on  Organiza- 
tion and  Exactness,"  "  The  Will," 
and  "A  New  Body." 


FINAL  EXAMINATION  QUESTIONS. 
PAMPHLET  FORM.    22  TO  64  PAGES.    PRICE,  10  CENTS 

These  are  questions  given  to  the  junior  and  senior  classes 
of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Normal  Schools  by  the  State  Examin- 
ing Boards  for  the  year  1901.  The  Questions  are  all  answered 
by  special  teachers  of  the  various  subjects.  There  are  no  better 
question  books  for  students  preparing  to  teach,  and  for  supple- 
mentary work  in  the  class  room.  They  are  bound  in  pamphlet 
form,  each  pamphlet  containing  from  22  to  64  pages.  The 
following  are  now  (April  I,  1902)  ready: 

(i)  Arithmetic;  (2)  English  Grammar ;  (3)  United  States 
and  General  History ;  (4)  Physiology  and  Physics ;  (5)  Geog- 
raphy and  Civil  Government;  (6)  Rhetoric  and  Literature; 
(7)  Professional  Studies— Psychology,  History  of  Education,, 
Methods  and  Management.  Others  in  preparation. 
Price,  10  cents  each. 


PENMANSHIP 

PENMANSHIP 

THE  NEW  IDEAL   COPY  BOOKS 

By  HUGH  C.  LAUGHUN,  A.  M. 

High  School  for  Boys  and  Girls,  New    York   City 

NUMBERS  i  TO  6,  75  CENTS  PER  DOZEN 


In  learning  to  write,  the  use  of  the  eye  is  as  important  as 
that  of  the  hand.     Through  the  eye,  the  brain  must  picture  the 
forms  of  letters  before  the 
hand  can  be  trained  to  write 
them.     Whatever  interferes 
with    the    eye    in    making 
quick  and  accurate  mental 
pictures  of  the  letter  forms 
impedes  the  progress  of  the 
hand  in  learning  to  wiite. 

In  the  New  Ideal  Copy 
Books,  the  author  has 
enabled  the  young  pupil 
to  concentrate  his  mental 
vision  upon  the  copies  with- 
out having  his  perception 
confused  by  surrounding 
figures,  printed  words, 
unnecessary  ruled  lines,  etc. 
In  this  way,  distinct  impres- 
sions of  the  letter  forms 
to  be  copied  are  made  and 
the  automatic  movement  of 
the  hand  and  arm  is,  consequently,  more  readily  acquired. 

No  explanation  is  any  longer  expected  for  preferring  the 
vertical  sy  stem  of  writing.  It  would  seem  foolish  to  oppose  that 
which  is  more  legible,  occupies  less  space,  and  has  won  its 
claim  to  rapidity.  The  adoption  of  vertical  forms  does  not 
necessitate  the  abandonment  of  grace  and  beauty.  Hence  in 
selecting  letter  forms  for  the  New  Ideal  Copy  Books,  the 
author's  aim  has  been  to  secure,  first,  simplicity  and  utility, 
and  next,  grace  and  beauty ;  and  in  no  case  has  he  sacrificed 
the  former  for  the  latter.  The  author  being  a  classical  scholar 
as  well  as  a  practical  penman,  his  copies  are  also  a  collection 
of  literary  gems. 

The  New  Ideal  Copy  Books  have  been  adopted  for  exclu- 
sive use  in  a  number  of  counties  in  Iowa  and  Maryland  and  in 
a  large  number  of  townships  and  towns  in  Pennsylvania 


PROF.  HUGH  C.  I*ADUIILIN. 


VC  48517 


,  I  79 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


